Different School Days
by ThomasZoey3000
Summary: Join Ryan Nakata as he lives out his life in a new city and see his adventures as he hangs out with his friends, Makoto, Kotonoha and Sekai.
1. The Meeting

Well my friends, I am proud to present an all new series, this time it's a School Days series. This series I'm going to be writing up was deeply inspired by Mike11208's two series 'Different Days' and 'Happy Days'. This series is going to be rated M for lots of swearing and a few 'cute' moments as I call them coming in later episodes. Anyhow, that's all I have to say, here's the first episode of the series, enjoy!

Also note that *baka* is japanese for idiot.

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 1: The Meeting**_

My life sucks! I have a father who's in jail for stealing, a drunk mother and a brother who'll do anything for drugs. As for me, I'm a normal teenager at the age of seventeen. My name is Ryan Nakata, my family and I most recently moved to another city, mostly because my mom was going for a new job, hopefully this will mean that she will stop drinking - but I have a strong feeling that's wishful thinking, mostly cause I can see her drinking again.

After helping bring in our things into our new apartment, I headed out to see this city for myself.

"It's nice I guess," I thought to myself and sighed deeply.

I guess I wasn't focusing on where I was going, cause the next thing I knew - I had bumped into someone. We both fell back, that person's grogeries spilled out of the bags.

"I'm sorry," I groaned, "it's my fault, I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I'm such a baka."

"I wouldn't say that, cause I wasn't watching where I was going either."

I looked to see who I had run into - it was a young teenage girl, probably around the age of 17, she had dark brown hair, or it could've been black, it was hard to tell what color it was.

"Oh I'm so sorry miss, I didn't mean to run into you like that."

"It's okay," she said.

She started picking up the grogeries, I helped out, it was the least I could do after running into her like that. After we got the grogeries back into the bags, I held out a hand to her, she grabbed it and I lifted her back to her feet.

"Again, I'm really sorry about that," I said.

"Nah it's okay, it can happen every now and then," she said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah I guess so," I smiled back.

"Well I better get going, I'll see you around," she then walked past me.

She hadn't gone far before I called out to her, "What's your name?"

"My name is Sekai Saionji, what's yours?"

"Ryan Nakata!" I called back.

She winked at me, then she walked away with her bags of grogeries. I stood there in silence for a couple of seconds, then I walked off, "she seems like a nice girl, I hope I get to see her again someday," I thought to myself.

The next morning, I was running to catch the train. My damn brother made me late again, he was blocking the doorway and complaining about nonscene and some other crap that came out of his mouth. I finally ran onto the train just as the doors were closing.

"A few seconds more and I would be stuck in the door," I groaned quietly.

"You okay?" another person asked.

I looked to see who asked me that, it was a teenage boy around my age with dark black hair.

"Yeah I'm okay," I answered his question, "just lucky that's all."

"You sure are, you would be stuck in the doors till the next station."

"Yeah that would be an uncomfortable ride," I chuckled quietly. Much to my surprise, this guy was chuckling too. I then noticed that he was wearing the same kind of uniform I was wearing.

"Let me guess, this is your first day at a new school, am I right?" he asked, I nodded my head in agreement, "thought so, cause I've never seen you before."

"Yeah well, I just moved here yesterday with my mother and brother, two people I want to get away from," I groaned quietly, "anyways, my name is Ryan Nakata, what's yours?"

"Itou Makoto, but you can me Makoto if you want to."

"Well it's nice to meet you Makoto," I said and held out my hand, he shook it back with his hand.

We soon came up to another station, lots of students from our school were getting on. Just as the doors were about to close, both Makoto and I saw a teenage girl running towards the train. She ran in just as the doors were closing.

"That was too close for comfort," I said.

"At least she made it this time," said Makoto, "there are times when she's close to missing the train - but she makes it everytime."

"Lucky girl." Both Makoto and I could see lots of guys looking at her, but not with friendly looks, she looked around nervously and blushed unhappily.

"Damn guys," Makoto muttered darkly, "I hate it when they look at her like that."

"Preverts," I added, "I hate the way they act around girls," I then asked, "do you know that girl Makoto?"

"I do, that is Katsura Kotonoha, she's a good friend of mine," he was blushing as he stared at her, but not with the same looks those damn preverts were showing.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the main station where all the students got off at. Then it was only a short walk to our high school, that building was frickin' huge! Just as we were walking into the courtyard, I asked, "hey Makoto, do you know a girl named Sekai Saionji?"

"Yes I know her, she's an old friend of mine - how do you know Sekai?"

"I...kinda ran into her yesterday, by accident of course."

So I told Makoto about running into Sekai yesterday, he was just about to reply back when we both saw her. Sekai was wearing a uniform that looked similar to what Kotonoha was wearing, only with a few differences.

"Hi there," she called and winked before walking into the school. I couldn't tell if she was winking at me or Makoto, I had no idea.

I didn't see much of Makoto afterwords, mostly because he wasn't in my class, but Kotonoha was. She was sitting to my right in the second row of desks.

I walked over towards her desk, "hello there, my name is Ryan Nakata, what's your name?"

"My name is Katsura Kotonoha," she answered me with a small smile on her face, "but you can call me Kotonoha if you want."

"Why you talking to her?" shouted another voice, it was another teenage girl and I'm sorry to tell you that she didn't look too friendly, "Katsura is extermly shy and doesn't like boys talking to her."

"Maybe it's because some of those boys are being jerks, just like you are!" I snapped at the girl.

"What did you just say?" she snapped back.

"You heard me! I'll talk to whoever I want to, so why don't you just take a seat and shut up?" All the girls in the classroom, apart from Kotonoha, all whispered agmost each other while the guys said "oh," I don't think they ever heard someone say that to that girl. She didn't say another word, she sat down in her seat without another word.

"Thank you," Kotonoha said to me, "for sticking up for me, no one's ever done that before."

"You're very welcome," I said kindly.

I took my seat just as the teacher walked in. Throughout the entire day, that girl looked over to me with a dirty look on her face while Kotonoha just smiled at me.

"I guess I made a huge impression around here," I thought to myself.

A little later, Kotonoha and I met up with Makoto on the rooftop. I told Makoto about what happened back in the classroom, "Sounds like you had a run in with Otome then," he said, "I think you made it into her bad books after you backtalked to her like that."

"Yeah well, I don't care, I will not stand by and let someone say such rude remarks like that."

"Did you really say that to Otome?" asked another voice.

I looked to my right and saw who said that, it was Sekai, she was standing right behind me.

"Yeah, I did," I answered in a shy way. Sekai just giggled.

"What brings you up here Sekai?" Makoto asked.

"I came up here to eat lunch with you guys again," she smiled. She showed her lunchbox, all neatly wrapped up. Kotonoha and Makoto also had neatly wrapped up lunch boxs, the same couldn't be said about me.

"I sure hope he didn't steal my lunch this time," I thought to myself, I opened the lid and groaned, "Dammit, he did it again."

"What's wrong?" Kotonoha asked.

"My brother stole my lunch again - I don't know how that baka manages to sneak into my room in the middle of the night and steal my lunch."

"You made your lunch last night?" Makoto asked.

"I did, I always make my lunches the night before, I've been doing that ever since I was a kid. My parents never made me lunches and my brother was no help either, being who he was and still is to this day, so I started making my own lunches for the next day. Somehow though, my brother sneaks into my room and steals it."

"Why would he do that?"

"He's just being a baka, I don't know why he does it, he just does. I can never understand what goes on in that head of his," I could hear my stomach groan, "I guess this is going to be one of those days where I go hungry."

"No you won't," Sekai handed her lunchbox to me, "I'll share half my lunch with you Ryan."

I gasped when she said that, "You would really do that for me?" I asked, "you hardly know me."

"I know, but I don't want you to go hungry because of your stupid brother."

"Well...thank you," I said kindly. I got off the bench and sat down in front of Sekai. She gave me an extra set of chopsticks, then we started to eat and so did Makoto and Kotonoha. After lunch I thanked Sekai again for sharing her lunch with me.

After school was done for the day, I walked all around the school, just giving myself a little tour of the place, the last thing I wanted was to get lost in this school. After my little tour, I walked back to my classroom to get my things, "time to head off back to the apartment," I sighed unhappily to myself.

I walked down the hallway past another classroom where I heard some clutter coming from the room. I looked inside and saw that someone was sitting on one of the desks and looking out the window.

"You know school ended hours ago," she said, I knew the voice.

She looked back over to me, revealing her face - it was Sekai.

"Yeah I know," I walked into the room, placed my things on one of my desks, then I stood next to Sekai, "so what are you still doing here Sekai? I thought you would've gone home by now."

"I was just going to ask you the same question."

"Well, the main reason I'm still here is because I don't want to go back to the apartment just yet, not with my dumb brother and drunk mother there. Plus I wanted to give myself a tour of this school. What about you?"

"I'm still here because I was in the library. I want to learn how to draw, so I was looking around for some books that could help me become an artist," she then showed some of the books she had, "and now I'm watching the sun set for the day."

We were quiet for a moment or two, that was until I spoke up, "I can draw."

"What was that?"

"Oh sorry Sekai, I have a habit of saying certain things out loud - it's a bad habit."

"You said you can draw, what can you draw?"

"Anything, from animals, plants, people, you name it."

That's when she asked, "can you draw a picture of me?"

I looked over to her a little surprised, then I nodded my head and said, "sure Sekai, I can draw a picture of you," she just smiled when I said that. She then walked over to the teacher's desk and sat down on it, placing her left leg on top of her right leg.

"How's this?" she asked.

"It's perfect," I got out a sketch pad and a pencil out of my bag, "now hold still."

"Is it okay if I listen to some of my favourite music while you draw?" she was holding onto her Ipod.

"Of course it's okay," I answered.

Sekai plugged her Ipod to a set of portable speakers and let it play some of her favourite tunes while I drew a picture of her. As I continued to draw, I heard one song from her playlist that sounded familar.

"Isn't that 'I Swear' by 'John Michael Montgomery'?" I asked.

"It is," she answered, "I love that song."

"You know something Sekai? I love that song too."

"Really?" she asked, I nodded my head and went back to drawing, Sekai continued to smile as she possed in front of me.

It took me an hour and ten minutes, but at last, I had finished the picture. Sekai came down from the teacher's desk and walked over to see it, "so what do you think of the picture?"

"It's wonderful," she smiled, "it looks just like me."

By the time I had finished drawing that picture of Sekai, it was dark out, so I offered to walk with her back to her place. We talked alot as we walked along until we reached the crossroads leading to her house.

"Did you enjoy your first day at our school Ryan?" Sekai asked me.

"I sure did, I had a great day today," I chuckled at that moment, "now that's something I don't normally say."

Sekai giggled at that moment, then we both went quiet till only the sounds of crickets could be heard, "well, I better get going," she turned but didn't walk away. She looked back over to me, "see you tomorrow at school Ryan!"

"Yeah, I'll see you at school Sekai!" I said.

She winked at me again, then she walked away.

"So far in the last two days, I have made three new friends. Sekai Saionji, Itou Makoto and Katsura Kotonoha, three people I can be friends with for a long, long time - at least now I can't say that my life sucks all the time."

With that happy thought in my head, I walked away back to the apartment.

My stupid brother snapped at me for being late and so did my mother, but I really didn't care what they said. Tonight I was in too much of a good mood to be mad. Still, I locked my door so that my brother couldn't sneak in.

I spent the next thirty minutes making my lunch for the next day, I do have a small oven in my room, while thinking about hanging out with my new friends.

The next morning, I was all ready to go, but my brother and mother had other plans, "you have to stay here today," my mother said in her drunken state, "you have to clean up the kitchen."

"I don't think so, I have to go to school, I'm not missing a single day because of you and that baka."

"I heard that," my brother snapped, "now do as mom says and clean up the kitchen!"

"Do it yourself! You're home all day not doing anything, so - YOU DO IT!" I snapped angerily.

Before they could say anything else, I had walked out the front door, slamming it hard. I was so ticked with my mother and brother, which made me wonder why I wasn't living on my own.

I started to cheer up a little bit as I got on the train, this time I wasn't late.

"On time today buddy!" called a voice. I looked to see Makoto sitting in the same spot as before, "you seem to be a little tense today, is something wrong?"

"Those two bakas I live with," I said angerily, then I told Makoto everything, "do you think I was being harsh on them?"

"No, you weren't harsh enough," he said, "they deserved to be yelled at."

"Yeah they did - oh hey Makoto, I want to show you something," I pulled out my sketch pad and handed it to him.

He opened up the book and looked inside, he saw that picture I drew of Sekai, "When did you do this?" he asked.

"I did that picture last night. What do you think of it?"

"It looks fantastic Ryan, you're an amazing artist..." we then heard some shouting, it was coming from Kotonoha, she was running late again. She got in just as the doors closed.

Those same stupid guys from before were staring at her again, I only shook my head, then I called out, "Hey Kotonoha, you can have my seat if you want it!"

"You mean it?" she asked.

"Sure," I called.

I got up from my seat just to show that I am a man of my word, Kotonoha walked over and sat down next to Makoto. Most of the guys looked at me with angry stares, but I didn't care.

"Uh, Ryan," I looked back over to Kotonoha, she was the one who called my name, "did you draw this picture?"

"I sure did."

"It's good, it looks just like Sekai. Uh Ryan, could you maybe draw a picture of me later?"

"And me too," Makoto added.

"Of course I'll draw a picture of you two," I smiled, "maybe at around lunchtime later okay?"

"Okay," they both said in one voice.

It wasn't long before the train arrived at the school. Waiting by the front gate was Sekai Saionji, She smiled at me again and winked before she walked away.

"I think she's taking a liking to you Ryan," Makoto chuckled as he walked past.

"Maybe..." I said quietly while blushing a small shade of red.

I soon reached my classroom. I could see Kotonoha sitting at her desk and I could also see that snob Otome saying rude things to her again, "oh no I'm not going to let that continue," I thought to myself.

I walked up to Kotonoha's desk and stood to the left side of it, "okay, is there a reason _why_ you are talking rudely to my friend here?"

"It's none of your damn business," she snapped.

"Since you are insulting my friend here, it _is_ my business. Now like I said yesterday, go back to your seat and shut your trap!"

Otome looked like she was going to blow a vain, she was really angry after hearing that. Still, she did walk back to her chair, sit down and remained quiet.

"Thank you again Ryan," Kotonoha said kindly.

"My pleasure Kotonoha," I said kindly.

Kotonoha told both Makoto and Sekai about my standing up to Otome again today, they were happy to hear that too. As promised, I drew up a picture of Makoto and Kotonoha, sitting side by side on the bench, but they weren't alone. Sekai sat to Kotonoha's right side while Makoto sat to her left side, they didn't move an inch until I was done.

"Simply amazing buddy," said Makoto, "is there anything you can't draw?"

"I don't know," I answered with a chuckle, I then looked over to Kotonoha and Sekai, "so what do you two think of this picture?"

They looked at it, then they said in one voice, "it's wonderful, it really looks like us."

"Well I'm glad you guys like it," I smiled.

After I had put my art supplies away, we sat down on the benches to eat our lunches.


	2. Never Ordinary

Here's chapter 2 of 'Different School Days', I don't have much to say at this time. Oh and this chapter is dedicated to all my friends. Enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 2: Never Ordinary**_

By the late afternoon, dark storm clouds were starting to come in. Heavy rain poured down hard. I was sitting on a bench just outside of the school, I didn't feel like going back to the apartment, not with my brother and mother waiting for me. The heavy rains continued to pour down on me, that was until something blocked the rain - it was someone's umbrella.

"You're going to get sick if you stay out here like this," that voice belonged to Sekai Saionji.

"Yeah I know," I groaned.

"What are you doing out here anyways?" she asked me.

I didn't answer her for a while, then I finally broke my vow of silence, "I don't want to go back to the apartment," and that's all I said. Sekai sat down next to me, all the while keeping that end of the umbrella over my head and the other end over her head, "I'm not happy living there, so when I'm out, I try to stay out as long as I can, then I won't have to deal with them again." Then I went quiet.

Sekai reached into her bag and pulled out a hankercheif, "use it to dry yourself off," she said kindly.

"Thanks," I said after excepting it. I wiped my face and my hair with it, I was soaked completely, "I just hate my life right now, well - except being at this school with you guys, that's the only good part about my day."

"I'm glad to hear that," then she asked, "would you like to see my place tonight?"

"Yes I would," I answered, I didn't even think it over, I wanted to go somewhere other than that apartment.

We got to our feet, then we walked off to Sekai's place. She walked along beside me, still keeping that end of the umbrella hanging over my head, "I don't want you to get sick okay?"

I just nodded my head, I didn't answer her, oh boy was I ever depressed.

Sekai and I sat down side by side as we rode the train to her stop. I don't know why, but I felt a lot better being with Sekai right now, I didn't feel depressed anymore.

We soon reached her stop and finally reached her place.

"Welcome to my home sweet home," she said.

"It's nice," I said as I looked around.

"Is that you Sekai?" called another voice.

"Yeah it's me," she called.

A few seconds later, another woman appeared as she came over to the doorway, "oh hello there."

"Hi there," I said kindly.

"Mom, I would like to introduce you to my new friend Ryan Nakata, he just moved to our dear city a few days ago. I think I told you about him didn't I?"

"Yes you did, isn't he the boy that ran into you?"

"That would be," I said quietly, "it's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No it's my fault," Sekai spoke up, "I wasn't watching where I was going..."

Then we both said at the same time, "I guess we're both at fault here." That sure made Sekai's mother giggle a little bit.

Once we had our jackets and shoes off, Mrs. Saionji showed us to the living room, "would you like anything to drink Mr. Nakata?" she asked afterwords.

"Just water please."

"Okay then. Sekai?"

"I'll have what he's having," she said with a small giggle. Her mother chuckled too, then she walked away for the kitchen.

"I can't imagine someone as kind hearted as you having such a horrible brother and a drunk mother," Sekai said to me while we waited for our drinks.

"Well you better believe it cause it's true," I sighed unhappily.

"And what about your dad, what happened to him?"

"He stole a lot of things and then he was arrested. If I remember correctly, my brother was going to fight the police and prevent them from taking my dad away, but something stopped him."

"And what would that be?"

"Me."

Sekai's mother came out with a couple of glasses, filled right to the top with water and ice.

"I had to tackle my brother just before he got into the living room, he got me good though," I took off my jacket, unbuttoned a couple of buttons on my shirt and pull the left sleve down. Sekai and her mother gasped, for there was a huge scar on my left shoulder.

"Your brother did that to you?" Sekai was still in shock.

"Sadly yes, he cut me with his pocket knife. It was a minor cut, nothing too serious," I lifted the sleeve over my shoulder, then I buttoned up my shirt.

"He doesn't sound like a nice brother," said Mrs. Saionji.

"Well he isn't a nice brother, he was at one time, but now he's rotten to the core and getting worse with each day that passes."

For the next few hours, I told Sekai and her mother a bit about my life back in the last city I used to live in, then they told me about their lives in this city until it was time for me to go.

"Guess I'll see you at school tomorrow Ryan," Sekai was saying to me as I was getting ready to go.

"Yeah, I'll see you at school tomorrow Sekai, and thank you for inviting me over."

"You're welcome - so, are you feeling better now?"

"Yes I'm feeling much better, thank you for asking."

The next morning, I was nearly late getting onto the train again. My right foot nearly got caught in the door this time, but I made it.

"A few inches more and you wouldn't have a right foot anymore," Makoto called from his seat.

"Yeah well you can thank that baka brother of mine for making me late again. He was blocking the doorway saying that I should stay home and scrub the kitchen floors and the windows of our apartment. I tried shoving him out of the way three times with little success, the fourth attempt was just the charm. Just be lucky that you don't have a brother like that baka, he makes my life a living hell."

"Well when you say it like that then yes I am lucky not to have a brother like that."

When we got to the next stop, Kotonoha wasn't late today, she came on at the same time as everyone else did. The boys all looked at her with that look again, I even heard one whisper to another guy, "I wonder what color her panties are."

"Hey Makoto..."

"Already on it," he said as he pulled out a textbook, he knew what I was thinking.

"Thank you," I whispered. I took aim, then I threw the hard covered book at the guy, it smacked him in the face.

"Hey, what the hell is your problem?" he shouted.

"That's saying rude things about Kotonoha!" I shouted back.

"What are you? Her guardian?"

"More like _we_," I was pointing at both Makoto and myself, "are her friends and we don't like it when you preverts say such those kinds of things. So next time, keep that mouth of yours shut - and the same goes to all of you preverts!"

The other boys on the train went quiet at once. Kotonoha picked up the textbook and walked over to where we were, "you didn't need to do that," she said.

"It's like I told you yesterday, I will not stand by and let someone say horrible things in front of you," I said.

"Same here," agreed Makoto.

"Thank you," she said happily.

I got up from my seat, allowing Kotonoha to sit next to Makoto. She gave him his textbook, "I hope it's not broken," she said.

"Nope, it's fine," he said, "these are tough little suckers aren't they?"

"That's nothing," I chuckled, "try using a dictionary, those things are really thick." Makoto chuckled quietly and surprising enough, we actually heard a quiet giggle coming from Kotonoha.

When we got to the school, we met up with Sekai at the front gate and just like yesterday, she winked at me. After that, Makoto went off to his class while Kotonoha and I walked off to class. We hadn't gotten into class before we ran into Otome, and oh boy was she ever angry.

"You better stay out of my way today," she said angerily, "or else..."

"Or else what?" I asked with determination. Otome was silent for a while, "look Otome, if you try bullying my friend Kotonoha again, then you'll have to deal with me, so don't bother trying anything."

"You don't want to see me mad boy," she said angerily.

Then she walked away back into the classroom.

"Well, she's all talk and no show," I whispered to Kotonoha, who didn't say anything for the longest time.

Throughout the entire morning, Otome stayed out of our way and didn't bother bullying Kotonoha, but still - I was wondering if this girl could do something to hurt us.

At lunchtime, I asked Makoto if she would...

"I doubt she would hurt anyone," he said, "I've known that girl for a long time."

"What? You were friends with that snob?"

"She wasn't always like that, she was at one time a sweet kind girl."

"Too bad she's not like that now," said Sekai as she was opening up her lunchbox, "for some reason, Otome changed into the girl that mostly everyone is afraid of."

"While others wish to kick her butt," added Makoto, "but so far, nobody's had the courage to do that."

"Mostly out of fear right?" I asked, all three of my friends nodded their heads.

"So you'll want to be careful around Otome," Sekai said with a worried tone in her voice.

"I will," I said.

A little later, Makoto, Sekai and I were walking down the stairwell to the floor where our classrooms were. Kotonoha had already gone on ahead, she said she needed to do something before returning to class.

We had barely gotten down the stairs when we heard some screams coming from down the hallway.

"That sounded like Kotonoha," exclaimed Sekai.

Makoto and I ran down the stairs quickly - when we finally reached the bottom of the stairs, we could see Kotonoha pinned down to the ground while Otome tucked her hair back - hard!

"LET HER GO!" Makoto shouted.

Otome looked over to Makoto, "ah Makoto, I'm glad you're here - you can now watch me remove this pest from our school."

"You heard him," I said firmly, I walked over to where they were, "let go of Kotonoha now!"

"Fat chance loser!" then she slapped me with a textbook hard, really hard. She only hit the right side of my face, but it was enough to knock me down to my knees. "I told you to stay out of this, now next time you..."

She never finished, mostly cause I had kicked her in the right knee. She groaned in pain while Kotonoha, now free from her grasp, got up and ran over to Makoto and Sekai.

"You'll pay for that one stupid boy," Otome snapped angerily.

"The name is Ryan Nakata, remember it well Otome," I got my feet, looking really angry, "now, what were going to say to me? Next time I stuck my nose where it doesn't belong, you would kick my ass, am I right?"

Otome gasped, that was all I needed to see, "I thought as much. Now I'm telling you this for the last time, leave Kotonoha alone!"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you're going to get a worse treatment than what I gave you today, and trust me when I say this - if you hurt her or any of my friends, then I will make you pay."

I said it with such anger in my voice, it sure made Otome back up a bit in fright. She then ran into the classroom while the other students cheered loudly for what I had done. I wasn't paying attention, I was more concerned about Kotonoha, "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah I'm okay," she said.

"What happened Kotonoha?" Sekai asked.

"I was just walking down the hallway when Otome grabbed my hair, then she tripped me and pinned me to the floor - and that's when you guys came in."

"What about you Ryan?" Makoto asked, "are you hurt?"

"No not really, just a little sore, but I'll be fine, don't worry."

Sekai walked up to me and looked at the right side of my face. She lifted her left hand and rubbed the right side of my face with it, "does it hurt?" she asked kindly.

"Not really," I answered her, blushing a little.

"Are they a couple?" one of the students asked, we looked around to see lots of students looking at us.

"We're just friends," Sekai and I said in one voice.

"Sure you are," one of the other students said cheekily.

The rest of the day was uneventful, although that little smack from Otome left a small bruise on my face, so it hurt a little. After school was done for the day, I went down to the library to check out some books - mostly mangas. I found three mangas, checked them out and walked off back to the classroom.

"I wonder if Sekai's still here," I thought to myself, "no I'm sure she's gone home."

She didn't though as I was going to find out. I decided to go up to the rooftop for a bit. Sekai was already up there, she was sitting on a bench and reading a book.

"What are you reading Sekai?" I asked her.

"It's a romance novel," she answered, "I heard from Kotonoha that it's good."

"She's reading this book too?"

"Yep - actually, she's a few chapters ahead of me. From what she has said, this book is one of the year's best romance novel stories."

"Is that so?" This sounded quite interesting.

"Yeah, just listen to this, 'he looked over to the girl he really liked, he was nervous, but wanted more than anything to be with her. He walked over to where she was, but then stopped when he saw one of her friends walk over to her and saw them talking. He walked away, but looking back over his shoulder as he did, he wanted more than anything to be with her'."

"Let me guess, this guy is extermly shy, am I right?"

"Yes, he doesn't have any friends, but he wants to be with this girl, but being the shy person he is, he won't go near her when she's talking with someone else."

"Sounds to me like this guy needs more confidence."

"Yeah that's what I was thinking."

"So how far has Kotonoha gotten in this book?"

"Well she's at chapter nine while I'm on chapter four, I've got some serious catching up to do," then she asked, "let me guess, were you walking around the school because you didn't want to go home again?"

"You guessed right Sekai. I'm not looking forward to going back to the apartment tonight."

We were quiet for a while, then Sekai asked, "are you hungry Ryan? Cause if you are, I know a good little resturant we can eat at."

I was feeling hungry, so Sekai took me to a small resturant called 'The Radish', it seemed like a nice little place. Although I didn't like the way the men were looking at the waitresses working there, "preverts," I muttered darkly.

"Hey Sekai," one of the waitresses had come over to our table.

"Hi Hikari, I'm glad to see that you're still working here."

"Half the time I wish I wasn't, most of the guys that come in here, they look at me with that damn stupid look, I hate it. In fact," she said while looking over to me, "your friend here seems to be the only one who doesn't look at me like that."

"What about Makoto?"

"Okay, second boy who doesn't look at me like that."

"Well for me, I don't look at women as objects, I see them as human beings," I said, "I hate the way those bakas look at you girls like that."

"Is he for real?" Hikari asked Sekai.

"Yes he's for real," Sekai smiled and giggled quietly, "Hikari, this is my new friend Ryan Nakata, he just moved to our city a few days ago."

"It's nice to meet you Ryan," Hikari said kindly.

"It's nice to meet you too," I said kindly.

"Hey beautiful!" one of those 'preverts' called, "how about some service?" Hikari groaned when she heard them call for her, "didn't you hear me? We would like some service!"

"I heard you!" she called, trying to sound kind, but was really ticked off, "I'll be back in a minute," she said to us.

I looked back, I could see those guys looking at Hikari like that. She simply took their orders and walked away. A few minutes later, she came back over to our table, "sorry about that you two. I'm ready to take your orders now."

"We'll both have the curry," said Sekai, then she looked over to me, "you have to try it Ryan, it's really good."

"Well if you say it's good, then I'll give it a try."

"Okay then," said Hikari, "that's two orders of curry, I'll be back with your orders in a bit..." she felt something slap her rear end hard, it was one of those damn preverts, "Sir, you can't do that."

"Very well then, if I can't slap your butt, then how about a little kiss?"

"No!"

"Oh come on."

"No, I said no!"

But the man wouldn't leave her alone, he tried again and again to grab her hands, it was as if he wanted to grab her.

"Hey buddy, didn't you hear her?" I snapped as I got up from my seat, "She said she doesn't want to kiss you, so why don't you just go back to your seat and leave her alone?"

"And if I should refuse?"

"He shouldn't have asked that," Sekai muttered quietly.

"If you don't, then you'll have to deal with me and trust me, you do not want to mess with me, I will kick your sorry butt out of here. So take my advice and go back to your seat and leave Hikari alone!"

That's just what that stupid man did, he went back to his seat.

"And here I was hoping for an actual fight," I chuckled quietly, even Sekai was giggling when I said that.

Hikari thanked me for saving her from that guy, then she went off to get our orders.

Sekai was quite right, the curry was delcious. After paying for our meals, I walked with Sekai back to her place again.

"Hey Sekai, I just want to say thank you for treating me out to dinner tonight."

"You're welcome Ryan," then she felt the right side of my face with her left hand again, "is your face still hurting?"

"Not as badly as before," I said shyly.

We stood in silence at the crossroads while she rubbed the right side of my face, "just be a little more careful for now on okay?" I nodded my head softly. After a few seconds, she stopped rubbing the side of my face and we stood there for less than a minute in silence.

"Well, I better be going," she said, "See you at school Ryan."

"Yeah, see you at school Sekai."

She winked at me, then she waved to me and I waved back until she was out of sight, then I headed off back to my apartment.


	3. Sisters and Brothers

Here now is the third episode of 'Different School Days', this is where Makoto's sister will be coming into the series and the name of Ryan's horrible brother will also be revealed. Anyhow, the rating of this episode is M. Enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 3: Sisters and Brothers**_

It was another beautiful day on that Friday, though I felt like the classes would never end at all. At last though, lunchtime came around. Kotonoha and I were just walking out of the classroom when we were confronted by Otome.

"Here we go again," I thought to myself.

"Where do you think you're going Katsura?" Otome asked, she was trying to bully Kotonoha again.

"Otome," I said firmly, "step aside, we don't have time to deal with you again." With that said, Kotonoha and I walked past Otome, who was fuming on the spot, while we walked up the stairs to meet up with Makoto and Sekai.

"I have good news," Makoto smiled, "my sister is coming to visit our city."

Sekai and Kotonoha smiled happily when they heard this, but I was a little surprised, "you never told me that you had a sister."

"Didn't I? I thought for sure I told you that," he said, I simply shook my head. "Well anyways, my sister Itaru is coming back to our city - you see Ryan, my parents got divorced years ago, I stayed with my mom while Itaru went with my dad."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me too, I miss Itaru alot."

"So what time is she arriving tomorrow?" Sekai asked.

"She'll be arriving on the eleven O'Clock train," then Makoto asked, "would you guys like to hang out with us tomorrow?" Right away, both Sekai and Kotonoha answered, 'we love too!' "What about you Ryan?"

"Of course I would like to hang out with you and your sister," I smiled, I was going to add, 'it's not like I have anything better to do,' but I thought that would be rude of me to say so, so I didn't say a single word.

"Makoto!" called another voice from the stairwell, we all looked to see Otome, "I would like to talk to you! Now!"

"Sorry Otome, I can't right now!" Makoto called back.

"It's because you're hanging out with a few losers?" she asked angerily.

I got up from my seat and walked over towards her, if there was one thing I did not like being called was a loser, and judging from the looks on Sekai and Kotonoha's faces, they didn't either.

"Makoto prefers talking to his _real_ friends," I said firmly to her, "he doesn't want to talk to a hyper sexual bitch like you." Well that took everyone by surprise when they heard me say that, "now, why don't you leave us alone?"

Otome didn't say anything, she just stormed off. I looked back over to my friends, "I'm sorry about my swearing, I'm just getting a little sick and tired of her rude remarks."

"It's okay Ryan," Sekai said kindly, "to be honest here, I wanted to say that to Otome's face for some time."

"Really?" Kotonoha asked.

"Yep."

I just chuckled as I sat down at my spot, then we went back to eating our lunches.

The next morning at around ten fifty-five, Makoto, Kotonoha and Sekai were waiting at the train station for Itaru.

"Where's Ryan?" Kotonoha asked out loud, "I don't see him anywhere."

Sekai was just about to answer when I came running up, completely out of breath, "sorry I'm late," I gasped, "Damn brother of mine got in the way again."

"What did he do this time?" Makoto asked.

"Same as always, he wanted me to all the house chores and get the grogeries. I told him to get off his lazy ass and do it himself," I sighed unhappily and rubbed my left shoulder.

"You didn't hurt yourself again did you?" Kotonoha asked kindly.

"Only a little, it's not that bad," I groaned.

I had of course told Kotonoha and Makoto about that scar on my shoulder a couple of days ago, I even showed it to them, they were shocked.

Finally at Eleven, the train pulled into the station, "Hey Makoto!" called a voice, Makoto looked and saw who was calling for him. He smiled and ran forward towards her - they wrapped their arms around each other and hugged happily, "it's good to see you again."

"And it's good to see you too Itaru," Makoto smiled, then he looked back over to us, "Itaru, these are some of my friends from school. Sekai Saionji. Katsura Kotonoha. And my newest friend, Ryan Nakata."

"It's an honor to meet you all," she smiled and bowed before us.

"And it's an honor to meet you too," I said kindly, "Makoto never said that he had such a beauitful sister."

Even Sekai and Kotonoha were quick to agree with me, Itaru blushed a small shade of red at that moment, "Well, thank you."

One of our first stops was at 'The Radish', the resturant where Hikari works. Even Itaru had to admit that the place was amazing, but she didn't like the way the preverts were looking at the witresses.

"So how's dad doing?" Makoto asked.

"He's doing quite well, but he misses you and mom just as much as I do."

"Hey Itaru," I spoke up, "I was just wondering, where do you live anyways?"

"I live a long way's away from here," she answered, "that's why I don't get to see my brother very often anymore - well until today anyways."

It was at that moment we heard a faint buzzing sound, "Shoot, it's him again," I groaned as I pulled my cellphone out, "yeah I should've guessed, he's texting me."

"What's he saying?" Kotonoha asked.

"He says 'Ryan, you better get over here you'..." I stopped and looked over to Itaru, I didn't want to offend Makoto's sister, "...'baka, the place is still a mess and there's no food in the fridge, it's all your d...darn fault'."

"Who was that?" Itaru asked.

"That was Ryan's brother, ah...what is his name anyways?"

"Scott Nakata, that's his name, a real nasty piece of work. Even worse than that Otome girl," I wrote back to Scott, 'the fridge wouldn't be empty if you went out and did some shopping for a change. I'm going to be out all day with my friends, so you better get off your lazy ass and get some grogeries. Oh and while you're at it, clean the place up for a change too. Talk to you later'."

I shut off my phone and put it back in my pocket, "I'm so sorry about that, it's just who Scott is."

"Hey there," we heard another voice call, it was Hikari, "who's your new friend?"

"This is my sister, Itaru," answered Makoto.

"Your sister? I didn't know you had a sister," Hikari gasped, "I knew your parents got divorced, but I never knew you had a sister," she then looked down to Itaru, "Welcome to our city."

"Thank you so much," Itaru smiled.

Hikari then took down our lunch orders and went off to the kitchen, with only one prevert 'trying' to follow her into the kitchen. I looked down to my watch and whispered, "three, two, one."

Within seconds, the prevert came out of the kitchen with a black eye, "and stay out!" cried Hikari, she was holding onto a pot in her right hand.

"My guess is that Hikari smacked the guy with the pot," I chuckled, "now changing the subject - Kotonoha, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I only have one sister," she answered, "her name is Kokoro. She's a lot like me, only she's not as shy as I am."

"I would like to meet your sister," Itaru spoke up.

"Well maybe after lunch I'll give my sister a call and ask her if she can meet up with us."

"That sounds great," I smiled, then I looked over to Sekai, "what about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, no I don't," she answered, "I'm an only child living with my mom."

Hikari soon returned with our meals, they smelled great! We ate our lunches until there was nothing left, then Makoto and I payed for our lunches while Kotonoha made a phone call.

"I'm sorry," she said after a while, "but she's busy right now, so she won't be able to meet up with us right now. She will be free at five though, so she said she'll meet up with us then."

"Sounds good," Makoto and Itaru said in unison. They looked at each other in complete shock, while Sekai and I just chuckled.

We spent the next few hours checking out the many sights of the city, including the main shopping district. Sekai and Kotonoha showed Itaru some of their favourite places they like to shop at, then we hung out at the arcade for a bit. Itaru was actually able to beat her brother at some of those games.

"Whew!" Itaru gasped after a while, "this sure is a lot of fun."

"You said it, I haven't had this much fun in ages," I said.

"Why's that?"

"Well, it's mostly because of my drunk mother and my brother too - ever since my dad was taken away to jail, I've been left with the responsibility of keeping an eye on those two and keeping the place well maintained, so I never had the chance to get out and have some fun."

"Sounds rough."

"Oh it is," I sighed, "I try to get my brother to do some of the chores around the apartment, but all he does is lay down on the couch and smoke. You're very lucky Itaru, you have a wonderful brother like Makoto who cares alot about you."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Hey Ryan!" Sekai called, "Wanna play some whack-a-mole with me?"

"Sure Sekai!" I called back to her, "care to join us Itaru?"

"No that's okay, I've been playing alot of games for the last twenty minutes none stop, I just need to check my breath."

"Okay then, but if you still want to play later on, you know where we are," with that said, I walked over to where Sekai was.

No sooner we were over at the game then trouble came into the arcade. Some of the 'preverts' from 'The Radish' had just arrived - they saw Itaru all alone at the table. They walked over towards her.

"Hey baby," one of them snickered, "would you like to have a good time?"

"I'm already having a good time thank you very much," she said firmly, "I'm hanging out with my brother and his friends."

"Oh come on baby," the prevert presisted, "I can give you a great time," he showed an evil smirk across his face. Itaru backed up nervously, only to bump into her brother.

"Leave my sister alone you punks!" he said firmly.

But the boys didn't listen, they kept on walking forward towards Itaru and Makoto, they looked like they wanted to tear Makoto into pieces, "you better back away or else..."

"Or else what?" they heard another voice call, they looked and saw me standing close by, "You assholes just don't learn do you? Well I guess I'm going have to kick all your sorry butts - unless you leave now before I count to ten."

"I say he's bluffing," one of the preverts said.

"Makoto, you better get your sister away from the doorway, this is going to get ugly," I called out to him. That's what he did, they walked over to where Sekai was, "10...9...8..." they moved forwards towards me, looking eager for a fight, "7..6...5..." I was counting faster, they weren't going to stop, "you're really driving my patience," they still came forward, "4, 3, 2, 1...okay you asked for it!"

I charged in at the preverts, I then started smacking the crap out out of all of them. Two of them hit me hard, but I got them good - I kicked them in the only place we guys don't want to be kicked in, yes I'm talking about that area, then I punched them in the face. I fought those damn bastards for five minutes before they were beaten so badly that they could take no more - they ran out of the arcade.

"Yeah that's right you better run! Remember this you punks..." I couldn't say anymore, I passed out.

"Ryan! Ryan!" I could hear Sekai's voice calling out for me.

"Are you okay buddy?" that was Makoto's voice this time.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked all around me - Makoto, Sekai, Kotonoha and Itaru were all standing around me and looking worried, "yeah I'm okay," I groaned, "I guess I just overdid it that's all."

"Thank you for protecting me Ryan," said Itaru, "that was real sweet of you."

"Well you're welcome - I would do it for anyone."

"He's not kidding," Sekai added, "he did it once for Kotonoha back at the school, it's just who he is."

"What's going on here?" another young female voice asked. We all looked to see a young girl walking over to where we were, "why is there blood on the floor?"

"Wow! I really gave those punks a lesson," I thought to myself.

"Ryan was fighting the preverts," Kotonoha answered, "they were going after Itaru."

"Oh geez, I miss all the fun," the girl groaned, then she bowed before me, "anyways, my name is Kokoro."

"You're Kotonoha's sister right?" I asked, Kokoro nodded her head, "well it's nice to meet you," I bowed as well, "my name is Ryan Nakata."

"Yes I've heard of you Mr. Nakata. My sister Kotonoha told me that you've been standing up to that Otome girl almost every single day now, and now you stand up to the preverts for Makoto's sister. You're almost unbelievable - ah, no offence."

"None taken," I groaned as I sat down, "I'll say this about those guys, they sure can throw mean punches."

Sekai then picked up something, "is this your Ipod Ryan?"

"Yeah it is, oh I hope those damn preverts didn't break it," I checked, "good, it's fine, not even broken."

"I didn't know you had an Ipod," Sekai then chuckled, "I guess it's because I never asked." I chuckled along to her joke. Since I was still wore out from my fight with those preverts, I stayed at the table while everyone else went off to play the games - well, all except for Sekai.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked me, I nodded my head, "I thought I asked you to be a little more careful."

"This time I _was_ trying to be careful - I can't help it when those damn preverts throw mean punches at me," as I was talking, I was also searching threw my playlist of songs.

"What do you listen to?"

"Well, I listen to Country, pop, rock and dance, mostly rock though."

Sekai moved her chair over so that she could see my playlist, "I know that song," she said pointing to the one I had highlighted, "It's called 'Could Have Fooled Me' by 'Adam Gregory'. It's a good song to listen to."

"Yeah I have to agree - do you want to listen to it for a while?"

"Sure," she smiled.

So I gave one end of my earplugs to Sekai, then I pressed the play button. As we listened to that song, I could hear Sekai humming out to that song - come to think of it, I was humming along to that song too.

"Hey Ryan, can you sing?"

"Only a little bit - I'll see what I can," and very quietly I sang certain parts of the song, "that's the best I can do, I can't sing that well."

"It's okay Ryan, I thought you were very good."

"Are they a couple?" we heard one of the other costumers in the arcade ask. Sekai and I looked around and saw a few people looking at us, "they seem like a cute couple."

Again Sekai and I said, "we're just friends!" in unison, but somehow I don't think they believed us.

By this time I had my strength back up again, so now we could play some more games. At around this time, Kotonoha and Makoto were playing a racing game while Itaru and Kokoro were playing one of those shooting games.

"Oh boy that was fun," Kokoro said as we were leaving.

"It was good," Itaru said in agreement, "well - except for what happened earlier when those preverts showed up. How are you feeling anyways Ryan?"

"Still a little sore, but I'm okay," I answered.

"Oh hey sis," Makoto spoke up, "did I forget to mention that my buddy Ryan is a great artist?"

"Really?" she looked back over to me.

"Yep," Makoto said happily, "trust me, he's a good artist when it comes to drawing people, scenery - just about anything."

"Well I would like to see it for myself," she stopped, still looking over to me, "can you draw a picture of me?"

"And me too," Kokoro spoke up.

"Well I'll have to get my sketch book and my pencils," I said. They said they didn't mind waiting, "very well then, I'll go back to my apartment and get them."

Once back at the apartment, I got my art supplies, then I headed out, but that asshole Scott stood in the front door, "you're not going anywhere until you promise to go shopping for grogeries."

"Fine," I sighed with a groan, "I'll go get grogeries, considering you're too lazy to do it yourself!"

"Ryan," my mother called, still in a drunken state, "don't say something you're going to regret, now apologize to your brother."

"Fine, I'm sorry, now get out of my way asshole!" I snapped angerily and pushed him aside. I could hear Scott swear at the top of his lungs, but I didn't care. Those two get on my nerves everytime - if they went out and got the grogeries and helped out with the housework, then I would show more respect - sadly, that's just wishful thinking.

Anyhow, I ran on down the road until I arrived at the spot where my friends were waiting, "sorry about the wait, my brother blocked the doorway again."

"Don't worry about it," said Itaru as she sat down near the fountain, "I'm ready."

"And so am I," said Kokoro.

"Very well then," I got out my art supplies, "those positions are perfect. Now - hold still..." with that said, I went to work on their picture. Throughout that time, neither girl moved an inch.

It took me only forty eight minutes this time, "and that should do it, I'm done," I announced.

The two girls got up, then they walked over to where I was - they gasped when they saw the picture, "oh my gosh!" Kokoro gasped, "Makoto, you weren't kidding when you said he was a good artist, that picture looks _excatly_ like Itaru and myself."

"I wonder how many times you've heard that," Sekai whispered to me as a joke, I had to chuckle when I heard that.

We went to the theatre to catch a movie after that, Sekai actually slept through most of it so she missed the ending. After that, we went out to another resturant for dinner "I don't know why but everytime I go see a movie," Sekai was saying, "I always fall asleep halfway through it."

"Maybe it has a lot to do with those seats," said Kokoro, "they are very comfortable after all."

"Yeah, that's probably it."

"So Itaru," I spoke up, "how long are you going to be visiting our city?"

"For a couple of months, my dad has agreed that I can stay with my mom and Makoto for that long," then she added, "so you might get to see more of me," she added with a giggle, then she grabbed Makoto's right arm, "come on bro, let's get going, I'm eager to see mom again."

"Okay then," Makoto smiled, then he looked back over to us, "thanks again for coming along with us, I really appreciate this."

"You're welcome Makoto," Kotonoha, Sekai and I said in unison, "we had a great time hanging out with you and your sister," Sekai said with a smile on her face.

We said our good nights, then we headed back to our places. Well, almost all of us, I walked with Sekai back to her place, "do you want to hang out a little bit longer Ryan?" she asked me.

"Yeah I would," I said with a smile on my face.

And that's what I did. I hung out with Sekai for a couple more hours, either talking to her or watching some of her favourite shows with her, I sure learned alot about that girl tonight - I'm so lucky to have a wonderful friend like her, as well as Kotonoha and Makoto.


	4. The Stories Of My Friends

Well, I'm proud now to present the newest episode of Different School Days and I owe a great deal of thanks to my bros, Mike11208 and Mr. Kokomo for their help. Now, I never revealed the date of when Ryan met up with Sekai, Makoto and Kotonoha - in this chapter it's all going to be revealed, along with the story of how those three met, based on the first episode of the 'School Days' series and the game too. Now as for the dates of the last few chapters, the first one started on a Sunday, then chapter two started on a Tuesday afternoon and finished on a Wednesday, chapter 3 skipped on ahead to a Friday. Now as a reminder, this series is M for a bit of swearing and other moments too as you will see in future episodes. And now, here's the 4th episode of Different School Days, enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 4: The Stories of My Friends**_

On the morning of Monday September 19th, I got changed into my school uniform, grabbed my lunch and walked out of my room - only to smell 'weed', "Scott!" I shouted.

"Don't shout!" I then felt a punch on my right arm, it came from my mother.

Whenever she gets in a drunken state, usually after a week she starts getting into a voilent state.

"Well I'm sorry, but I don't want to get kicked out of the apartment because that baka is smoking weed again - or have you forgotten what the landlord said to us, 'no smoking allowed'."

"Don't say it out loud!" she said angerily and punched me in the right arm again.

"Whatever, I got to go. So why don't you and that asshole do some housework for a change? I'm going to be late getting home again tonight."

"No," Scott called, "you will come home on time."

"That's right!" my mother snapped, she tried to punch me again, but I dodged it this time.

"I will come home when I feel like it!" I walked out of the apartment and headed off for the downstairs level. I smelled the fresh air for a few seconds then I ran to catch the train.

It was nearly ready to go when I finally arrived at the station. I had to run fast - I made it with seconds to spare, "whew!" I gasped, "too close again huh Makoto?" I called out, but there was no reply, "Makoto? Where is he? Well maybe he got on a different train today."

It was quite lonely without someone to talk to, so I just listened to some music until Kotonoha came on the train.

"Hey cutie," one of the preverts called, "Wanna sit next to me?"

Kotonoha looked at them nervously, then she looked over to me, "you can sit here if you want to Kotonoha!" I called to her.

"Thank you Ryan," she called and walked over to where I was, naturally all the preverts looked at me with angry stares on their faces, I simply stuck my tounge out at them. "Where's Makoto?" she asked.

"I don't know, I think he might've gotten on the wrong train."

"Or maybe he's sick, I should call him and ask," she pulled out her cellphone and dailed a number. After a few seconds, "hi Makoto, I'm here with Ryan on the train and we were wondering where you are...oh really? Well, I hope you get better soon. Yeah I'll see you later, bye."

"What did he have to say?"

"He's got the flu, he won't be coming to school today."

"Oh boy," I said quietly, "that's a real bummer to get to the flu. So what did you mean that you'll see him later?"

"Well, I promised him that I would get his homework for him then bring it over to his place once school is done for the day."

"That's real sweet of you Kotonoha," I said happily, "I'm sure Makoto will really appreciate that."

When we arrived at the school, I expected to see Sekai standing in front of the building - but there was no sign of her either. So while Kotonoha walked on ahead to our classroom, I walked over to Sekai's classroom to see if she was there.

"Can I help you with anyone?" asked one of the students in that classroom.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Sekai Saionji, is she in there?"

"Ah no, she's not here at all - I think she's sick."

"Oh well, thanks anyways."

Now I was starting to wonder if maybe Sekai also got the flu as well. That thought went out of my head quickly as I stepped in the classroom and saw Otome shouting at Kotonoha.

I sighed unhappily and walked into the classroom and over to where they were, "I see you're back to bugging Kotonoha again huh?" I asked firmly to Otome.

"Just walk away Otome!" called one of the other students, "this guy means business!"

Otome didn't say a word, she just walked away, but not before she screamed, "BASTARD!"

"Stick and stones," I muttered quietly, then I looked down to Kotonoha, "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks again."

"No problem."

At around lunchtime, I went to the rooftop, but the doors were locked, so I walked around looking for a perfect place to eat. I looked outside and saw Kotonoha sitting on the grass just outside the school.

After a few minutes, I was outside the school and walking over towards her, "hey!" I called to her, she looked over to me, "let me guess, you couldn't get up to the rooftop could you?"

"Yeah you're right Ryan, I couldn't get up there, so I decided to eat out here."

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"I don't mind."

So I sat down to Kotonoha's left side, then we started to eat lunch while some of the students in the gym class ran past. It was during this time that I had to ask, "hey Kotonoha, I was just wondering something - when did you, Sekai and Makoto meet? If you don't want to answer then that's okay with me."

"I'll tell you," she said, "I met Sekai a weeks ago on our first day back from the summer holidays. Both of our classes were using the gym at the same time," then she added, "I wasn't feeling that well so I couldn't join in, then Sekai came over and told me that she wasn't feeling that well either, we then talked until class was over."

"What about Makoto though?"

"Well, I offically met him two days after I met Sekai. Before that time though, whenever I ride the train in the mornings, I could see him looking over to me, but not with the same look as those..ah, guys."

"Preverts, that's what I call those bakas," I went quiet as Kotonoha continued.

"I was waiting up on the rooftop for a few minutes on that day, then that's when Sekai and Makoto came up. He was blushing when he saw me," she giggled quietly, I chuckled too. "I introduced myself to him, then he introduced himself to me, then we all sat down to eat our lunches - it was from that point onwards that we became good friends. Then on Monday, that's when we met up with you."

"Well actually I kinda met up with Sekai on Sunday," I groaned quietly, I then told her what happened that day, "being honest here Kotonoha, I was suppose to come here on the first week of school, but my mother and brother held up the moving plans so we didn't get here till that day. Who knows, we could've probably met on the first day of school."

"Maybe," she said quietly while nodding.

I then heard my cellphone ring, I answered it - a second later, I regreted answering it - cause it was my mother yelling and shouting at me, "look, I told you I will come home when I feel like it..." I was saying to her, she screamed and yelled at me for almost a minute, "yeah love you too, talk to you later," I said sarcastically and hung up.

"Was that your mom?" Kotonoha asked.

"It was, she's still in a drunken state. First week isn't so bad, but by the second that's when it changes - cause that's when she gets voilent," I then showed a bruise I had on my right arm, "that's my mom's handy work."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little, but it's not that bad."

Kotonoha sighed in relief, then we went back to eating our lunches.

After the long day of classes, I decided to go to Sekai's classroom to get her homework for her. All her homework was sitting on the teacher's desk, "what are you doing with Sekai's homework?" a voice called from the far end of the classroom. I looked and saw a girl staring at me with a look that said she doesn't trust me, she has dark black with a red ribbon holding up the one pony tail at the back of her head.

"I'm just getting her homework for her, I'm going to be taking it to her place."

"You've been to her place?" she asked me firmly.

"Yes, she invited me over to her once last week."

There was silence in the room for about ten to fifteen minutes before the girl finally spoke up, "what's your name?"

"Ryan Nakata, I'm a new student at this school - why are you talking to me like you don't trust me?"

"No reason," she said as she headed for the door, "I'll see you around," then she walked out of the classroom before I could even get her name.

"Okay, that was different," I thought to myself. I gathered up all of Sekai's homework, then I headed off for her place.

As I walked along, I came across a small park and who should I see but Kotonoha, she was sitting on the swings and looking down to the ground, "hey Kotonoha," I called to her, she looked over to me, "I thought you were going to Makoto's place."

"I am, I just wanted to sit on the swings for a bit," she said sadly.

"Is something wrong?"

Kotonoha didn't answer me for a while, then at last she spoke up, "I ran into Otome again just before I walked out of the school, she was bullying me again."

"Not again," I groaned, "doesn't that girl ever give up?"

"She doesn't give up - just like many others before her."

"And what's that suppose to mean?" I asked as I sat down on the other swing, "you can tell me Kotonoha, whatever you say I'll keep a secret okay?"

"You mean it?" she asked, I nodded my head, "all my life, I've been harrassed by every boy and bullied by every girl in my classroom, even back in elementary school, just because I had the biggest chest of anyone in the entire class."

"I see," I said, sounding uneasy, "that's the kinda stuff you don't talk about in front of a guy," I thought that part only to myself, then I spoke seriously to her, "some people can be mean."

"I guess so."

"But of course there are others who are kind and will stick up for you, like Sekai and Makoto."

"And you Ryan?"

"Yeah me too. Kotonoha, you should never feel ashamed for what you are okay? You are special and unique in your way," as I was saying this, Kotonoha's smile returned, "don't ever listen to Otome or anyone else who bullies and harrasses you, okay?"

"Yeah," she said as she got up from the swing.

"Now where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to Makoto's house, I promised him I would bring him his homework after all," she picked up her school bag and looked over to me.

"So I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow huh?" I asked as I got up from the swing.

"Yeah I'll see you at school," then she walked away from the park, waving to me until she was out of sight.

"Katsura Kotonoha," I thought to myself, "she does seem like a really nice girl, I know she would make a great girlfriend to whoever confesses to her."

I picked up my school bag, then I headed off for Sekai's place once more.

I soon arrived, I rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, the door was opened by Mrs. Saionji, "oh hi Ryan, have you come to see Sekai?"

"Yes," I nodded, "I also brought her homework for her."

"How sweet," then she called out, "Sekai! You got a visitor!"

"Who is it?" she called, she was due to find out though. She stepped out of her and looked down the hallway, "oh hi Ryan," she said, sounding a little sleepy.

I was blushing a bright shade of red, "hi Sekai," I said nervously.

She was slightly confused at first, then she looked down - she was only wearing a pink pajama top and a pair of pink panties. There was silence in that hallway, that was until Sekai said in a teasing way, "do you like what you're seeing?"

"Ah..." I was finding it hard to speak, I didn't know what to say.

Mrs. Saionji sighed quietly and walked back to the kitchen.

After a minute, we were in Sekai's room, we were still blushing, only she was smiling. We were quiet for less than a minute when I broke the silence in the room, "I came by with your homework."

"Thank you, that's so sweet of you. So how was school?"

"Well a little boring, Kotonoha and I couldn't eat on the rooftop today..."

"Hold on, you and Kotonoha, where was Makoto?"

"Well he's got a bad case of the flu - what about you though? Do you have the flu?"

"Sad to say yes," she sighed unhappily.

"Oh boy, well I hope you get better soon," I said kindly, "as I was saying, we couldn't get to the rooftop today, so we sat outside on the grass near the track. During that time, she told me how she met you and Makoto. Tell me though, were you really not feeling that well on that day you met her?"

"Yeah I wasn't feeling that well, so after I told the teacher that, I walked over to where Kotonoha was, then we started talking."

"Yeah she told me that, but she never told me how you and Makoto met?"

"I've known him for quite a long time, even before we went to that school," then she asked, "did Kotonoha tell you how I got those two to meet?"

"No she didn't."

Sekai giggled quietly and coughed for a second, "I can't tell you how much trouble I had trying to convince him to meet Kotonoha. At first, he said he was fine with just staring at her from a distance..."

"He's that shy?" I asked.

"Afraid so," Sekai then continued, "the very next day, I met up with Makoto at the stairs, he was still trying to avoid meeting up with Kotonoha, but he didn't go anywhere..."

"You didn't let run away right?" I asked.

"Right again, well anyways - after telling him all I knew about Katsura Kotonoha, I dragged him up the stairs and up to the rooftop where she was waiting for us. He was still shy, but he did introduce himself then we ate our lunches - from that point onwards, we decided to meet up on the rooftop for lunch every school day."

"Hey Sekai," I spoke up next, "if I had arrived in this city one week sooner, do you think we would've become friends?"

Sekai was quiet for almost twenty seconds, she was thinking about what I asked, "I don't know Ryan. Most likely we would never have met at all."

"I thought so," I said quietly, "so maybe it was a good thing we ran into each other on that Sunday."

"I guess so," she giggled , "you know something though, Kotonoha is really shy when it comes to talking to boys..."

"Yeah she told me the reason why, it has a lot to do with the fact that she is harrassed by those preverted boys almost every day just because of who she is."

"Right again. In fact, you and Makoto are the only boys she feels comfortable talking to."

"Which makes me wonder, if Kotonoha is nervous around boys, then how did she warm up to me when I first introduced myself to her."

"Maybe she saw you talking with Makoto just before you got to the school," Sekai spoke up, "if she saw you talking to Makoto in a friendly way, then she knew she could feel comfortable talking to you too."

"Yeah it is possible," I said while nodding my head in agreement.

Mrs. Saionji came in with some soup for Sekai, "would you like anything Ryan?"

"Ah...just water for me please."

"Okay then, I'll be right back." Less than a minute later, Mrs. Saionji returned with a glass of water, it was nearly filled to the top with ice, "if you need anything else, don't be afraid to call okay?"

"Okay mom," said Sekai.

I then heard my cellphone ring, "excuse me a second Sekai," I answered my cellphone, once again it was my mother. She screamed at me and told me that I should go home now, "I'll come home when I feel like it," I told her, "see you then."

I hung up and put my cellphone and put it away, "she's still mad," I groaned.

"She's still mad? What happened?" Sekai asked kindly.

"Nothing happened, it's just the way who she is. First week of being a drunk, she's in a depressed state, by the next week, she gets a little voilent."

"She's done this before?"

"Afraid so," I sighed unhappily, "she's done that in the past, but usually it's my dad who keeps her in control, but since he's in jail, my mother is out of control."

"What was your dad arrested for?"

"He was arrested for stealing money, he needed that money to pay for our last place. My mom and brother had used up alot of money, so my dad went out to steal money to pay for everything, but less than ten minutes after he came home - the police showed up and arrested him and the rest you know."

"Yeah I do."

I hung out with Sekai for another hour and a half, just talking about our lives once again. After a while, she grew tired so I knew that was my time to go - before I left though, I tugged Sekai in, making sure she stayed warm.

"Get better and I'll see you at school," I whispered to her.

She had fallen asleep a few seconds ago, so I got no reply from her. I have to admit that she does pretty cute when she's sleeping. I tip-toed out of her bedroom, said good bye to Mrs. Saionji, then I headed off back to the apartment.

I'm sorry to say that when I got back, my mother smacked me with a hardcover book the moment I got in, then in the morning as I was leaving, she punched me in the right arm, hard! As for my brother, he was still smoking weed.

"We're going to get kicked out here if they keep this up," I groaned unhappily to myself.

Of course I was nearly late, the doors nearly caught my left foot as they shut quickly, "did your brother hold you up again?" called a familar voice.

I looked over to the nearby seat and saw who said that, it was Makoto, "yeah my damn brother held me again, along with my mother," I groaned as I felt the sore spot on my right arm, "don't worry about me though, I'm fine. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"Thanks Ryan."

A little later, just before lunchtime, I met up with Makoto on the rooftop, "where are Sekai and Kotonoha?" I asked.

"They'll be coming up soon," he answered, "I want to ask you though Ryan, do you like living with your mother and brother?"

"Not really, I hate waking up every morning and smelling Scott's weed and I hate being punched and smacked by my mother. If I had enough money, I could buy my own place and move away from my mother and brother, but I don't have enough money and I got nowhere else to go."

"You do now - Ryan, how would you feel about living with my mother, sister and myself for a while?"

"What?" I asked sounding completely surprised, "you would let me stay with you and your family? Me, a complete stranger?"

"You're not a stranger, you're a friend and yes I am inviting you to stay with us. I phoned my mom earlier and I asked her, both she and Itaru agree that you can stay with us for as long as you want to."

"Well...if you're really sure," I said, Makoto nodded his head, "sure I like to stay with you and your family - won't be forever though I promise."

"It's okay Ryan, like I said, you can stay as long as you want to."

"Thanks Makoto, that means a lot."

"Hey what are friends for?" he asked, just as Sekai and Kotonoha came up with their lunches.


	5. Confrontations

Again, I owe a great deal of thanks to Mike11208 for helping me come up with the ideas that you are about to see in this episode. Also note that the event that occurs on the platform is based loosely on a real life event where a man nearly got hit by an oncoming passenger train. Rating is M as always and now here is episode 5, enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 5: Confrontations**_

Naturally my mother and my brother were not happy to hear that I was moving out for a while, they even tried to beat me up as I packed up a few of my things. Boy was I ever glad to get out of there.

I rode the train to Makoto's stop, then I walked over to where his apartment was. When I arrived, I was greeted by Itaru, "would you like some help with your things Ryan?"

"Nah I'm okay," I said.

"You know I could've helped you," said Makoto when I stepped in.

"If you came in, you would've gotten smacked and punched by my d...darn brother and mother," I corrected myself as I didn't want to swear in front of Itaru.

"Ryan, you can swear in front of me," said Itaru, "I hear those words from my dad all the time."

"Even so, it's ill-mannered to swear in front of a lady, so I won't."

"Hello there," called another voice, I had to guess that was Makoto's mother, "you must be Ryan, it's nice to finally meet you," she bowed to respect and I did the same, "did you have trouble finding our place?"

"No I didn't have any troubles," I answered kindly.

"Hey Ryan," Makoto spoke up, "if you want, I can give you my bed and I'll crash on the couch."

"There's no need to do that Makoto, I'll take the couch okay?"

"Well alright, if that's what you want to do," he said, I nodded my head, "Then it's settled. We hope that you will enjoy your stay here."

"You know I will," I smiled.

To be real honest here, that couch was really comfortable - it was a lot better than my old bed. The next morning, I woke up to the smell of...sasuages and eggs.

"I haven't smelled that kind of smell in ages," I chuckled quietly to myself.

"Oh I'm sorry Ryan, did I wake you up?" It was Makoto's mother.

"Ah no you didn't, I was just getting up. I'm a morning person, so I usually get up bright and early all the time," as I was saying this, I was getting up from the couch and strecthing, "is there anything I can do to help?"

"No that's okay Ryan, I got everything under control in here."

"Alright then, I guess I could get myself ready for school," with that confirmed, I walked over to the washroom. Nobody was using it, so I went in, took a shower and got changed into my uniform. By the time I had gotten myself ready, Makoto was getting up.

"Good morning sleepy head," I called in a cheeky way.

"Morning Ryan," Makoto yawned, "you're up early."

"Yeah I guess I am," I smiled, "it's mostly because I'm a morning person."

"Really? We learn something new about you every day," he chuckled.

"Yeah I guess so," I chuckled as I walked over to the kitchen.

While Makoto was getting changed into his school uniform, I helped set up the table for breakfast. As for Itaru, well - she was sleeping in. We let her sleep until it was time for breakfast.

It was quite delicous, it felt so good to have a proper breakfast for a change instead of eating out all the time, and yes I made sure to thank Makoto's mother for the breakfast. After breakfast, Makoto and I headed off to the train station - we were early for once.

"Did you sleep well last night Ryan?"

"I sure did," I nodded, "that's probably the first time in a long time I got a good night's sleep. Hey Makoto, I just want to say thanks again for inviting to stay with you and your family, I'll find a way to repay you back some day."

"There's no need to do that Ryan," he said to me as he looked down the tracks, he then gasped, "that kid is a little too close to the tracks don't you think?"

I looked and saw a young boy standing _way_ too close to the platform, and there was a train coming. I dropped my school bag and ran over to the young kid, I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back to safety.

"What are you doing?" he asked me, sounding a little angry.

I didn't need to answer his question - cause it was then that the train came into the station. The little boy's face went as white as a ghost. I didn't have time to wait for a 'thank you', so I picked up my school bag and got onto the train.

"You okay Ryan?" Makoto asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine," I panted, "a few more seconds and that would've been an ugly scene."

Makoto didn't say anything, he just nodded his head in agreement to what I just said. Throughout the trip to the school, Makoto and I listened to some music, he listened on his mp3 while I listened to my music on my Ipod.

Kotonoha wasn't running late today, she came onto the train on time. Of course the preverts said their stupid remarks again, that was until she came over to where we were.

As we were walking up the pathway to the school, we saw Sekai standing close by, "I need to talk to you Ryan," she said to me.

"Sure Sekai," I then looked back over to Makoto and Kotonoha, "you two go ahead with us okay? We'll join you in a bit." I walked over towards Sekai while Kotonoha and Makoto continued on into the school, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well first of all, I want to thank you again for bringing me my homework a couple of nights ago," then she added with a giggle, "and I want an answer from you."

"An answer?" I asked sounding confused.

"I asked you if you liked what you saw - yet you didn't answer me."

"Ah...Sekai, I really don't want to answer that question. Can we please just forget that ever happened please?"

"Alright," she said, "I won't mention it again. Now come on, we're going to be late for class."

"Ah yeah right," I said as I followed her into the school. Truth be told here, I didn't want to answer that question just in case someone overheard us and told their friends, which would spread all around the school, then we would _really_ be embarrassed.

We soon met up with Kotonoha and Makoto, then we went our seperate ways to our classrooms.

The moment we walked into the classroom, we could see Otome standing in front of the stairwell, along with a few other girls who all had the same snobby look as her.

"What is this, the meeting of the bullies?" I asked.

"Shut it you!" Otome snapped, "I would like to teach Katsura a lesson."

"Is that so? You would like to teach Kotonoha a lesson huh - well you know what, I just might teach _you_ a lesson, how do you like the sound of that?"

"You won't get to Otome," one of the other girls said.

"I see, you girls must be Otome's silly little fan-club am I right? You always go after someone Otome hates, since she hates me - you wanna come after me?" I asked with a firm look on my face.

"You wouldn't really hit a girl would you?" one of the other girls asked.

"If they got me ticked off, then yes I would. Listen to me girls, don't hang out with that hyper sexual bitch, she's only going to lead you into a world of trouble - if you decide to stay with her, then I suggest that you don't ever pick on Kotonoha or myself for that matter, if you know what's good for you."

Otome didn't look scared this time, but her little 'fan-club' _was_ scared. They walked off back to their seats without saying a word, "get back here you fools!"

"At least they know when to never to pick a fight, unlike you - you have _no_ common sense!"

"You're just asking for it!" she snapped, "you better watch yourself Nakata! Otherwise I will teach you a lesson you won't forget."

"And what lesson would that be? How to be Stupid 101?" Otome just growled angerily at me, while the rest of the class, along with Kotonoha, laughed at what I just said.

When Kotonoha and I met up with Makoto and Sekai, I told them about the conversation with Otome and her little 'gang', they laughed when I told them about the last thing I said to her.

"That's priceless," giggled Sekai, "I wish I could've heard you say that."

"So do I," chuckled Makoto.

"Yeah I guess it was funny," I chuckled.

"Hey Ryan, where's your lunch?" Kotonoha asked.

"It's right..." I reached for my lunch, but it wasn't there because...I had no lunch, "oh man!" I groaned as I slapped my forehead, "I can't believe I forgot my lunch this morning. Don't worry about me though, I can always get something from the cafetaria - I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Don't take too long," Sekai said in a cheeky way.

"I won't be long," I chuckled.

When I got to the cafetaria, I found that they had a huge selection. After a minute or so, I picked out spagetti and meatballs, then I headed off back to the rooftop. As I walked threw the hallways, I saw that girl I met a couple of days ago in Sekai's classroom.

"Hi there," I said kindly to her, she just stared at me with a firm look on her face, "I didn't get your name last time."

"It's Setsuna," she answered, "I've heard from Sekai that you're standing up to Otome and her little group, is that true?"

"Yes it's true," I nodded, "tell me though, are you a good friend of Sekai?"

"You could say that, yes," she answered, then she started walking away, "if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some lunch - I hope to talk to you again soon Nakata."

"Please, just call me Ryan, all my friends call me that."

"Very well then - Ryan." Then she walked away until she was out of sight.

"She stares at me with a firm look on her face, yet she seems like a nice girl," I thought to myself, "well anyways, I better get back to the rooftop before the lunch period ends."

Just before I reached the stairs, I saw Otome standing close by and looking angry again.

"Where is Katsura?" she asked me angerily.

"It's none of your damn business," I simpled replied back.

"Tell me or else!"

"Oh I get it, class is session is it? Look Otome, I've been warning you a few times already _not_ to get on my last nerves, yet you don't seem to listen. Do you even have a brain in that head of yours?"

Otome just growled at me, "Shut your mouth!"

"Okay I'll shut it, if you leave Kotonoha, Makoto, Sekai and I alone. And this time - LISTEN!" I shouted to her, then I walked past her and up the stairwell.

"Took you long enough Ryan!" Sekai called to me in a cheeky way.

"Yeah sorry about that, I had another run in with Otome before I got here."

"Geez, what is it with you and Otome?"

"Don't ask me, ask her, she's the one who wants to fight."

Throughout the rest of the lunch period, I listened to my friends talking while I ate.

After lunch, we headed off back to our classes and I'm happy to say that Otome didn't try anything, and neither did her little gang. I was just thinking to myself, "did the message finally sink in...or are they planning something devious?"

I've been living in this city for almost two weeks, yet I think I have a basic understanding of Otome's personality, she hates anymore who is cuter than she is, she also hides behind her little gang like a coward and she doesn't know when to keep that mouth of hers shut.

When school was done for the day, Kotonoha got up her seat and headed off for the door, but she didn't make it to the door - mostly because someone tripped her.

"Had a nice trip Katsura?" sneered a voice, it was one of Otome's fan-club members.

Speaking of that bitch, she kicked Kotonoha's books away from her, "You're pathetic Katsura, you're not worthy of being in our class."

"Do we have a little problem here?" I asked firmly. Otome's fan club backed off, I then helped Kotonoha to her feet, then I stared angerily at Otome, "I thought I asked you to leave her alone - I guess you don't have a brain in that head of yours at all do you?"

"You're really starting to get on my nerves Nakata!"

"Good, cause you're already getting on my nerves. Name calling is one thing, but when you try hurting one of my friends like this, then you're really crossing the line."

"I don't know why you're bothering to protect someone like her."

"I happen to care about her because I am one of her friends. When was the last time someone stood for you Otome?" I asked firmly, she didn't answer, "I thought as much, you've been a bully all your life haven't you?"

"Will you shut your trap?"

"Admit it, you are threatened by Kotonoha aren't you?"

"I am not! Now shut up or I'll beat you up!"

"That's just it, I don't think you're going to beat me up at all. I know your type Otome, you hide behind your little gang like a bully would because you don't have the courage to face that person yourself! You might think you're the superior one here, but in reality, you're nothing more than a scared little brat."

Otome gnashed her teeth angerily, she looked like she was boil over in fury, "if you want to prove me wrong, then come get me!"

"Girls! Get him..."

"I knew it," I snickered, "you don't have the guts to do this yourself! I'm only giving one _last_ warning Otome, leave us alone - or the next time you do this, I will _not_ hold back! As for the rest of you, stop hanging out with Otome!"

The whole classroom was silent, Otome was still angry, but like I said, she didn't have the guts to come after me. So once Kotonoha had her books picked up, we walked away from the classroom.

"Excellent performance in there," said another voice, it was Hikari, "now that's how you stand up to stuck-ups like her."

"You heard the whole thing huh?" I asked, I had finally calmed down at this time.

"I sure did, I was just walking by and I heard all this shouting - would you hit her if she got on your last nerves?"

"Indeed I would, I even told that to Otome - next time she gets on my nerves, well - let's just say it won't be pretty."

"Well hopefully she learns to listen," she then looked down to her watch, "oh shoot I got to go otherwise I'm going to be late getting to work, see you around Ryan! And you too Katsura!" She waved to us until she was out of sight.

"Wow! That girl's got a lot of energy," I thought to myself, I then looked back over to Kotonoha, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine thank you."

"Good," I sighed as I leaned aganist the wall, "boy that was intense in there, I actually thought there for a second that Otome was going to come right after me, but I just kept reminding myself that bullies like her are nothing but cowards."

"She fought you last week though didn't she?"

"No, she just slapped me with a book, that's it, she didn't really fight me."

"Well thank you once again for what you did."

"You're welcome Kotonoha."

We then went our seperate ways, Kotonoha went off to a meeting while I walked around the school for a bit before walking into the library to bring back the books I borrowed last week and to check out some new ones.

After about ten minutes of looking around, I found some interesting books and checked them out. As I walking out, I ran into Kotonoha, "Does Makoto know you're still here?" she asked me.

"Yeah he does, I texted him just before I went into the library. What about you, do your parents know you're still here?"

"They do, they know I have to stay after school because of these meetings - they just want me home after the meeting is done."

"Let me guess...you got a curfew right?"

"Yes."

"I hate curfews," I groaned as we headed off for the station, "I used to have one myself, but after a while my parents, mostly my dad, got rid of the curfew, allowing me to stay out as long as I want."

"If I stay out too late, then my dad has one of his 'stern' talks with me," Kotonoha continued.

"Hmm, he's a very strict man huh?" I asked, Kotonoha nodded her head.

Along the way to the train station, Kotonoha and I talked a little bit about our families. As we got closer to the train station, I brought a different subject, "hey Kotonoha, do you like playing video games?"

"Not really, I don't really like playing games."

"Really? Cause when we were at the arcade on Saturday, I saw you smiling...when you were playing with Makoto," it was then a thought came into my head, "I hope you don't mind if I ask you this, but - do you have a crush on Makoto?"

Kotonoha looked down to the ground, I think she was blushing, "I...I..." she was finding it hard to speak.

"It's okay Kotonoha, you don't really need to answer that question, I'm sorry I brought it up." Secertly, I knew her answer - and it was 'yes'.

At last we reached the station, we could see Makoto talking with Sekai - then what happened next took us by surprise...Sekai kissed Makoto! On the lips!

Kotonoha was just speechless with her eyes wide open in shock, I gasped at the sight. Kotonoha finally snapped out of it and walked over towards Sekai.

"This isn't going to be good," I thought to myself.

I was right, the moment Sekai and Makoto's lips seperated - Kotonoha slapped Sekai hard on the right side of her face. All three of them were in complete shock and left speechless.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked.

Not one of them answered me, not even when the train finally showed up. Sekai got on, then she turned around to look at us, "I'm sorry," she said as the doors slammed shut, then the train disappeared.

"Makoto, what the heck happened?" I asked.

"I was just talking to Sekai about what she did, you know getting Kotonoha and I to meet...then she took me by surprise..." he then went quiet.

I looked back over to Kotonoha, she shaking her head after slapping Sekai. We were silent until the next train arrived, "how's your hand?" Makoto asked, finally braking the silence.

"It's still a little sore," she answered, "but it's okay."

Throughout the rest of the trip to Kotonoha's stop, Makoto allowed her to listen to some of the music on his mp3. "That's real nice of him, still though," I thought to myself, "why would Sekai kiss Makoto? Is she teasing him or does she have feelings for him?"

"Well, this is my stop," said Kotonoha as the train came to the station, "I'll see you two at school tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow Kotonoha!" Makoto and I called in unison as the doors slammed shut.

"Hey Makoto," I whispered to him, "don't tell anyone, but I think Kotonoha has a crush on you."

"She...she has a crush on me," he asked me sounding surprised.

"Yep. I asked her if she liked video games and she said she doesn't, yet she was smiling when we were at the arcade on Saturday. I think the main reason she was smiling was because she was spending some time with you."

"She has a crush on me," he said quietly.

"Now I want to ask you, do you have a crush on Kotonoha?"

Again, I got no answer, Makoto just looked down to the floor, he was also blushing (like Kotonoha was). However after a minute he did answer me, "I...I do have a small crush on her."

"I thought as much..." I then felt the train slowing down at my old stop. I looked out the doors and noticed Scott standing there with a firm angry look on his face. I thought for sure he was going to come onboard the train and try to beat me up, but he didn't. He just stood there, even after the doors closed and the train rolled away to the next station.


	6. Living in a Dream

Hello there loyal readers, it's ThomasZoey3000 here with the latest chapter of Different School Days. Before I begin, I would like to thank my bro, Mike11208, who helped me alot with this chapter and for coming up with the title of the story. The rating for this chapter is M as always and now here is the 'nightmare' chapter of the series, also note the date of this chapter is Thursday September 22nd 2011. Enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 6: Living in a Dream**_

I awoke to find myself on the rooftop of the school, "what am I doing up here?" I thought to myself, "last thing I remember was going to sleep on the couch - next thing I know I'm here."

I was just about to walk off for the door when I heard some footsteps coming up the stairwell. A second later, I saw who it was - it was Makoto and Sekai. They were talking quietly, so I couldn't understand what they were saying.

"Hey Makoto! Sekai!" I called.

They didn't reply back to me, I found that a bit odd - so I walked over to where they were, but before I got there, I saw Makoto whisper to Sekai - a second later she blushed and looked shocked.

"You said it all wrong," she said to him, "you're suppose to say 'I Love you Kotonoha'."

"What the hell?" I gasped, "since when did Makoto and Kotonoha become a couple?"

"It's kind of hard for me to say 'I love you Kotonoha' when you're not her," said Makoto, "now what's next?"

"Next is a kiss on the lips," said Sekai. Makoto went in for a kiss, but was stopped by Sekai, "stop, I'll kill you if you do kiss me!"

"That's a little exterme," I thought to myself, "hey Makoto, if you want advice I can help you..." He didn't reply back, it was like to them I wasn't there at all. What happened next took me by surprise, Makoto grabbed Sekai's breast on the right side and started rubbing it.

"What the heck?" I exclaimed, "Makoto! Get your hands off her!"

I grabbed for his hand, but my hand went right through, "what the hell?" I gasped, "what's happened to me?" I looked back over to Sekai and Makoto, Sekai was leaning back on the bench. "Oh no, Makoto you're not going to..."

He was - Makoto took the ribbon off of Sekai's uniform, then unbuttoned a few buttons before he touched her again.

"What is going on here? If he's got a relationship with Kotonoha then why is he touching Sekai?" I asked myself. I closed my eyes, hoping that this was a bad dream that would end as I opened my eyes...

When I opened them again, I saw Kotonoha running through the hallway and looking worried. She was running straight towards me, "whoa! Stop Kotonoha! What's going on?" I got no reply, instead - she ran right through me.

After the shock wore off, I followed Kotonoha to the stairwell leading to the rooftop. We ran up the stairs, then we heard a scream.

Kotonoha stopped as she stared out the window, I looked at her face, she was in pure shock. I looked out the window and saw just what shocked her - there was Makoto and Sekai, kissing on the lips. Sekai's uniform had been pulled down and she was making out with Makoto.

"This is just nuts!" I gasped, then I heard some clutter from behind me. Kotonoha had dropped some of her things and now they were falling down the stairwell.

"How could you..." she said quietly.

"I must be in some kind of nightmare," I groaned to myself, "this has to be a nightmare."

I looked over to Kotonoha, she was on the verge of crying her eyes out. I wanted to hug her and help calm her down, but like before - I ended up walking through her.

"This doesn't make any sense at all," I thought to myself.

I shut my eyes again, hoping that the next time I opened them, I wouldn't be seeing something terrible...

That however was just wishful thinking, for what I saw next made me gasp in pure shock - there was Makoto making out with...Otome! I shut my eyes again, and I saw him with Hikari. Third time, he was with Setsuna.

The fourth time I opened my eyes, I saw myself in Sekai's bedroom. She had legs tugged in as she sat on her bed, she didn't look too happy.

"Makoto. Setsuna," she said quietly.

"She must know of what happened. Hey Sekai..." Again, I walked through. "Dammit!" I snapped.

I looked back over to Sekai, she was still sitting in the same spot, but not for long. She gasped and placed her hand over her mouth, then she got up from her bed and ran out of her room.

A second later, I heard the sounds of someone vomitting - it was Sekai! She was throwing up into the sink.

"Nice," I said sarcatically.

After a few minutes of vomitting, Sekai looked in the mirror and gasped, "it can't be..." she said quietly, "I must be...I must be..." She looked down to her stomach and then back to the mirror, "pregnant."

I gasped when I heard that, "but that would mean that...she and Makoto had...oh my gosh!"

I shut my eyes again, then I reopened them. I found myself in the shopping district. I could see Kotonoha standing close to the fountain, she had a look in her eyes that said 'the lights are on, but nobody is home'.

"Kotonoha," said another voice, this person sounded shocked.

I looked behind me and saw who the voice belonged to - it was Makoto.

He walked up to her, she showed no change in emotion, "oh Kotonoha," he then wrapped his arms around her, "I'm so sorry for hurting you. I'm so sorry." Kotonoha still showed no change of emotion, "I never wanted to hurt you," Makoto added as some tears poured down from his eyes.

"At least he's apologizing," I said quietly.

"I promise that for now on, you will be my _only_ girlfriend okay? I'm so sorry."

At last Kotonoha's emotions changed, she cried some tears and wrapped her arms around Makoto, "do you mean it?"

"Yes, yes I mean it," he then rubbed her back gently and then whispered into her left ear, "I love you Kotonoha."

Kotonoha gasped for a second, then she smiled, "I love you too Makoto," she said, then the two of them kissed.

"He did make mistakes," I thought to myself, "but at least now he's going to correct those mistakes and put things right. Way to go Makoto..."

I shut my eyes once more, hoping to see a good scene - again though that's just wishful thinking. I found myself back in Makoto's apartment, Makoto was sitting on the couch while someone else was in the kitchen. Makoto got up from the couch and walked over to his room.

"What is he up to now?"

I walked into his room, I saw him looking at his cellphone. I looked at it, it read 'I'm sorry', then it was blank until one word came up. It read 'goodbye'.

"Goodbye?"

A second later, Makoto groaned in pain - someone had stabbed him with a knife!

"Oh my gosh!" I gasped. I looked to see who was stabbing Makoto, it was Sekai. "Sekai, what the hell are you doing?" I screamed, I tried to stop her, but I went right through her, "oh for pete's sake!"

I looked back, only to see Makoto fall and see Sekai stab him again and again, I just wanted to puke after seeing this.

"You only cared about Katsura's happiness!" Sekai screamed as she continued to stab Makoto.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!" I cried, but Sekai didn't hear me.

"Sekai..." Makoto reached out for her stomach, she looked down to it. Makoto's hand then dropped - he was dead!

Sekai got off him in pure shock, her hands were shaking and her lips quivered. She then ran out of the bedroom and out of the apartment. I stood there in complete silence, I was in shock too.

Then I heard someone coming in - it was Kotonoha. She looked over to Makoto and that lifeless look returned to her eyes. She walked over to her boyfriend and got down on her knees. Then - she picked up the knife and cut Makoto's head off and placed it in a gym bag, then she sent out a text message on Makoto's phone.

"Okay, I think I am going to puke," I groaned and shut my eyes again.

I didn't puke though. When I opened my eyes again, I once again found myself on the rooftop of the school late at night.

"Now why am I here?" I groaned quietly to myself.

Again I heard some footsteps coming up the stairwell, it was Kotonoha and she had that gym bag in her hands. The lifeless look in her eyes was still there, but now she was mad. A couple of minutes later, Sekai came up.

"Look in the bag," Kotonoha told her.

Sekai looked and gasped, "no! Makoto!" she screamed, then she puked.

Then she groaned in pain - reason was because Kotonoha had stabbed her, "what the..." I swear I was on the verge of throwing up. Sekai dropped to the ground, dead, then Kotonoha cut her open.

"Just as I thought, there's no one inside of you. I knew you were lying."

I ran over to the stairwell, I just felt like screaming out, "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" I shouted out loud.

I then heard more screams of pain, I looked and gasped. Kotonoha had stabbed herself! She had commited suicide!

"Kotonoha!" I cried and ran over to her. She stood for almost a minute, then she fell to the ground. I stared at her, then Sekai, and then Makoto's head. I fell to the knees and started crying, "this can't be happening. This has got to be a nightmare, it has to be. Makoto...Sekai...Kotonoha..." there was silence on that rooftop, apart from my own crying.

"No...no...!" I screamed out loud.

"Ryan! Ryan!" I heard another voice call, "are you okay?"

I opened my eyes again, I found myself on the couch in Makoto's living room. Itaru was standing close to the couch, looking rather worried and she wasn't alone - her mother was also looking worried.

"We heard you shouting in your sleep," said Itaru, "are you alright?"

"Ah...I think so, where's Makoto?"

"I'm right here," I got up and looked to see Makoto standing near the kitchen enterance, he too had a terrified look on his face.

"You two are acting strangely," said Makoto's mother, "is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Makoto.

"Same here," I said, "I'm sorry if I woke any of you up, I was just having a real bad nightmare..." I looked back over to Makoto, I had a strong feeling that he had the same nightmare too.

The next morning, Makoto and I were waiting at the station for the train, we were quiet for a while until he finally broke the silence, "in your nightmare, did Sekai kill me with a knife?"

"Yeah she did," I answered.

"Looks like we both had the same nightmare," he said quietly as the train came into the station. We both got on and took our seats.

Makoto didn't say another word throughout the trip to our station stop. What surprised me though was that Kotonoha didn't come on the train today. Then once we were at the school, we could see Sekai standing near the enterance and looking terrified too.

"Don't tell me she had the same nightmare too," I thought, then another thought came into my head, "I wonder if Kotonoha had the same nightmare too."

Sekai kept her distance away from Makoto until we finally reached our classrooms when we went our seperate ways, they went into their classroom while I went off back to my classroom.

"So where's Katsura?" a voice snickered as I walked into the classroom, it was Otome's voice again, "did she finally learn that she doesn't belong in our school?"

"No, she's just not feeling well," I said angerily.

"Really?" she said with a sarcastic tone in her voice, "I don't believe you."

"Will you shut your trap already?" I snapped, "I'm not in the mood to deal with you today!"

Otome didn't say another word, she just walked over to her desk. I sighed unhappily and sat down at my desk.

At around lunchtime, I went up to the rooftop - only to find Makoto up there, he was all alone, "hey Makoto, where's Sekai?"

"She said she was going to eat in the cafetaria," he answered, "that's all she said to me."

"Hmm...I don't think you and I were the only ones to have that nightmare last night, I think Sekai and Kotonoha had it too. It's probably the reason Kotonoha isn't here today, she's probably too scared to face you and Sekai."

"Yeah maybe - I bet you it's the same reason Sekai isn't talking to me."

"That's just what I was going to say," I said.

We were quiet for a long period of time, probably five to seven minutes. Then Makoto finally broke the silence, "I don't want that to happen," he said, "I can't believe I acted like that in the nightmare. Maybe it's a good thing I had this nightmare..."

"Say what?"

"Well maybe the nightmare is telling me that if I act like that and do all that I did in the dream, then..." he then went quiet.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Well for one, I won't act the way I did in that nightmare - I'm going to be a completely different person, one who is devoted to the one girl he loves and won't use girls for 'practising'. In simple words, I'm not going to be a prevert."

"Good plan there Makoto," I said with a smile.

"And I'm going to start by talking to Kotonoha, maybe I can calm her down."

"Alright and I'll talk to Sekai, sounds good?"

"Yep, sounds good," he said while smiling.

So once school was done for the day, Makoto went off to Kotonoha's place while I went off to find Sekai. It didn't take me too long to find her, she was sitting all alone at the train station and eating a sandwhich.

I grabbed her right arm and started taking bites of her sandwhich.

"Ryan!" she cried, "That's my sandwhich!"

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself," I chuckled, then I spoke to her in a serious way, "you had a terrible nightmare last night didn't you?" she nodded unhappily.

"You're not alone there Sekai. Makoto, Kotonoha and I had the same nightmare too." I sat down next to Sekai, who was still looking down to the ground and still holding onto her sandwhich.

"I just can't believe I did all that in the dream - I allowed Makoto to use me for 'practise' and then I killed him when he chose Kotonoha - I'm scared Ryan."

"You don't need to be scared cause that nightmare is never going to come true."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, Makoto said he wasn't going to act like he did in the nightmare, he told me that earlier today. Besides," I added, "I won't let something like that happened to my three best friends."

"Best friends?"

"Yep, you three are the best friends a guy like me could ever ask for. Trust me Sekai, I won't let that happen to you three, I promise."

"How about you pinky swear on it?" she had out her right pinky, I grabbed it with my right pinky, then we both said in unison, 'pinky swear'. "You break that promise and you'll have to swallow a thousand needles," she giggled.

"Now there's the Sekai I know," I smiled while chuckling.

Sekai was giggling when she heard that. She then got up as she saw the train coming - that's when she got a shock - I had wrapped my arms around her and now I was holding her close to me, "I promise I won't let anything hurt you," I whispered, "I promise."

"Thank you Ryan," she whispered back to me.

When the train finally pulled into the station, Sekai and I seperated, then she walked over to it, "I'll see you at school tomorrow Ryan!" she called.

"Yeah, I'll see you at school tomorrow Sekai!" I called back to her as the doors closed.

I waited alone at the station for a bit until the next train arrived.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my dumbass brother Ryan," sneered a voice. It was Scott, he was riding the train today, "Thanks to you, mom forced me to go shopping today."

"What she do, did she slap you on the back of your head with a book?"

"Shut the hell up Ryan!" Scott snapped, his shouting caused all the passengers to look at us, "you should be at home right now doing all the work."

"While you do what? Sit around on your..." I looked to see a young child staring at us, "butt all day long while doing nothing?" I corrected myself as I didn't feel right swearing in front of a kid.

"Move back in!" Scott snapped at me, "then maybe mom will stop beating me up!"

"Then she can start beating me up right?"

Scott didn't answer. He remained quiet until we reached _his_ stop, "you're coming back with me now!" he said as he tried to grab the collar of my shirt, but I backed off, "Why you little..."

Scott tried again to grab me - but he never did. I punched him in the face, then I kung fu kicked his sorry ass off the train.

"I'm not your slave anymore," I snapped at him, "I'm living my own life now, so get used to it!"

Scott growled in anger at him as the doors closed and the train pulled away from the station. I sighed unhappily as I took my seat, then I pulled out my Ipod and started listening to some songs till I reached my stop.

I was greeted by Itaru when I finally reached the apartment, "hey Ryan, have you seen my brother? It's getting late and he didn't call us earlier, he didn't even leave a text message."

I was about to reply back when, who should've showed up, but Makoto himself, "sorry that took so long, I had a lot to talk about with Kotonoha. I'm sorry I didn't call."

"Apology accepted."

Itaru then ran off to the kitchen to help her mom cook up dinner while Makoto and I walked over to the living room to talk, "so how was Kotonoha doing?" I asked.

"She wasn't doing good, she looked tired and terrified," he answered, "at first she didn't say a single word to me, then I told her everything I told you at lunchtime, I even promised her that I would never let something like that happen."

"Did you pinky swear on it?"

"Yep."

"I did the same thing earlier, I made the same promise to Sekai, then I pinky swore with her."

"That's good to know," Makoto smiled.

Itaru came back into the living room, "would you guys like anything to drink while I'm in the kitchen?" she asked. Makoto asked for a soda while I asked for water. Itaru ran back into the kitchen, then she came back with Pepsi for Makoto and water in a glass for me, "Dinner will be ready in an hour," she said, then she walked out of the room.

"Just before I left though," Makoto whispered to me, "Kotonoha hugged me." I gasped when I heard that, "I think you are right Ryan, I think she has _does_ have a crush on me."

"Really?" I asked sounding interested.

Makoto looked over to the kitchen, then back over to me, "yeah," he said while blushing and looking down to the floor, then he added, "just before I left, I asked her if she would like to go out with me tomorrow night."

"Well good for you," I smiled.

"I just don't know where to take her."

"Take my advice and take to where _she_ wants to go, you might just learn a lot about her that you never knew before," I said to him. Makoto thanked me for the little piece of advice, then he walked off to his room to get changed while I got out my books and started working on my homework.


	7. Lessons and Advice

Yes my friends, Different School Days continues with this newest installment. I apologize for the long wait, I've been a little busy with other projects over the last couple of months. Before this story begins, I would like to say a special 'thank you' to Mike11208 who helped me with one of the scenes in this chapter. As a reminder, this chapter's rating is still the same as there is some swearing included - and that's enough talking from me, here's the 7th chapter, enjoy!

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 7: Lessons and Advice**_

In less than an hour, I had finally finished my homework, so I decided to take a little nap. Before I could close my eyes, I saw Makoto walking over to where I was, "hey Makoto, what are you up to?"

"Nothing really," he answered, "I just finished my homework."

"Same here."

We were quiet for almost a minute, that was until Makoto broke the silence, "Ryan, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Makoto, what's on your mind?"

"Well - I was wondering if you could give me some advice," he said. I looked up to him in surprise, "well you know how much I like Kotonoha. Well I just don't want to upset her...like I did in the nightmare."

"Yes I do know how much you like Kotonoha," I said as I got up from the couch, "I guess I could give you some advice - before that though, tell me what you do know."

"Well let's see, there's the hugging her part."

"Okay that's good."

"Then the kissing..."

"Lovely scene."

"And then touching her chest."

I looked at Makoto with a firm look on my face, "hey Makoto, come here for a second, I want to tell you something..." he walked closer - only to get slapped on the right side of his face by me, "only preverts think like that!" I said angerily, "get that crap out of your head baka!"

"You could've said that it's not a good idea," groaned Makoto.

"Sorry about the slap there Makoto, but that is what a girl will do, either that or they will punch you in the stomach."

"Or kick me in the..."

"Yes they could, so remember this - don't do that! Got it?"

"I got it," Makoto groaned, it was clear to see that the right side of his face still hurt from that slap I just gave him. Now that I think of it, my hand was still feeling sore, that was a hard slap I gave him, "now you can see why I need some advice."

"A few lessons by the looks of things," I muttered quietly to myself, "okay Makoto, I'll give you some advice. When you and Kotonoha go out tomorrow, take her to the many places she wants to go to, you might just learn something about her that you didn't know before. Next; never and I mean _never_ leave her alone while you go into a store, if you do then that's not only rude, but you'll leave her unprotected."

"What?"

"Think about it Makoto, there are preverts in this city who want to take advantage of cute young girls like Kotonoha."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot them...I hate those bastards."

"And just suppose that Otome and her stupid little fan-club came along while you were in the store? What do you think they'll do?"

"From what you've been telling me from your encounters with Otome, it properly won't be good," he said quietly, "I got it, stay with Kotonoha at all times."

I nodded my head, "very good Makoto."

"Makoto! Ryan!" Itaru called, "dinner is ready!"

"Coming!" Makoto and I called in unison. "Hey Ryan," Makoto said before we walked into the kitchen, "you asked me earlier of what I know, well I forgot to mention something - holding hands."

"Well that's very good, I'm sure Kotonoha would love to hold hands with you, just ask her. I'll give you some more advice after dinner, in the meantime let's eat...I'm straving!"

"Same here," he chuckled.

The dinner that sat before us was a pasta dinner, complete with homemade sauce and a few meatballs on top. Boy did it ever smell good, I can't remember when was the last time I ever had pasta.

After dinner, and I had helped to clean up the dishes, I went into the living room to talk with Makoto, but he was busy playing video games with Itaru, "they deserve the chance to play together," I thought to myself. And so, I headed out towards the nearby park. There was hardly anybody there - so I decided just for the heck of it to practice some karate moves.

Less than a minute later I heard someone say, "Ryan? What are you doing?"

I looked behind me to see who said that, it was Hikari, "oh hey Hikari," I said, "I'm just practicing some karate moves."

"Karate moves huh? Sekai never told me that you knew Karate."

"Well that's because she doesn't know, not a lot of people know that," while I was talking to Hikari, I was practicing some moves, "not even my dumbass brother Scott Nakata doesn't know."

"How come?"

"Well there's a simple answer...he never asked, besides he doesn't really care for Karate or me for that matter."

"Sounds like you don't have a nice brother at all."

"You got that right, but despite his attitude and what he does, he's still my brother and I still care about him."

"You know I once heard that from a girl named Karen, she said that although her sister was, and I quote, 'a right down pain in the ass', she still loves her sister."

"She said that?" I asked while chuckling. Hikari nodded her head, "Wow! That sister of hers must be a bitch if she would say that - do you know who her sister is?"

"I sure do - it's the one you've been fighting all this time."

I stopped practicing and looked over to Hikari, "Otome? Karen's sister is Otome? Wow! Although I'm sure Karen is living in the same house with that baka, unlike me."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't Sekai tell you? I'm living with Makoto and his family."

"She never told me that - come to think of it, she's been awfully quiet for the last couple of days - why just the other day, she looked like someone had smacked her."

"Yeah well someone did smack her - and that was Kotonoha."

"What?"

"Don't ask, you're better off not knowing right now."

"Well alright. Anyways, I better get going otherwise I'm going to be in some serious trouble - see you around Ryan!"

"Yeah, see you around Hikari!" I called back to her.

I watched as she walked away and then went back to practicing some more karate moves. After at least seven more minutes of practicing, I headed off back to the apartment.

"Hey Ryan, where did you disappear to?" Makoto asked.

"I just went over to the park to practice some karate moves. I didn't want to do them around here and distrub our neighbours you know."

"Yeah I guess so - so do you have any more advice for me?"

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "just have fun okay, if you're not having a good time, then Kotonoha won't be either - oh and..."

"Don't touch the girl's chest," said Makoto, "I got it, actually I can still _feel_ it," he rubbed that one side of his face where I had slapped him, "do you think I'm ready for this date?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "you are more than ready."

"Thanks," he yawned, "I'm off to bed, I'll see you tomorrow Ryan."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Makoto," I said to him. Once he was out of the room, I went off to the washroom to get changed and get ready to go to bed.

The following morning, Makoto and I were right on time again to catch the train. We listened to the music on our music players until we got to Kotonoha's stop.

"Hey cutie," said one of the preverts, "do you want to sit with us?"

"Ah no thank you," she said nervously.

"Oh come on," another prevert said with a pleading tone in his voice.

"Sorry, but no," Kotonoha started to walk towards us, but was stopped by one of the preverts. He had grabbed onto Kotonoha's right arm, "let go of me!" she cried.

"Sit with me baby!"

"No!"

"You better let go of her, before I end up coming over there and kicking your sorry ass!" I shouted. The stupid prevert would not let go, "guess I'll have to kick the crap out of this bastard! Excuse me one second Makoto."

I walked over to where the prevert was - I punched him in the face and knocked him down, which allowed Kotonoha to run over to where Makoto was. I was just about to walk away when I heard, "don't you walk away from me you bastard!" he snapped, "you had no right to punch me!"

"Considering that you were attacking my friend, then yeah I say I did have the right to punch you!"

"I'll show you," he snapped and charged at me - but he never punched me - instead, I had kicked him in the place where men do not want to be kicked - yes, I kicked him in his area.

"Leave her alone," I said firmly, "if you know what's good for you."

The prevert groaned in pain and crawled slowly over to his seat while I walked over to where Makoto and Kotonoha were, "damn you're too good," said Makoto.

"Thanks for saving me again Ryan," said Kotonoha.

"Ah what are friends for?" I said with a smile on my face.

Our train soon pulled into the main station and all the students got off. As we were walking up to the school, I heard someone say, "I need to talk to you," if I had to guess, it was Setsuna.

"Ah you two go on ahead! I'll catch up!"

And so, Makoto and Kotonoha went on ahead into the school, holding hands the entire time. I just had to smile at that, then I went to talk with Setsuna, "what would you like to talk about?"

"I heard that you hugged Sekai last night."

"Oh that, well she was feeling depressed and I thought that maybe a hug would cheer her up."

"Do you have feelings for Sekai?" she asked.

"Well of course I do, she's a good friend to have, she's a kind hearted person with a good sense of humor too."

"That's not what I meant..."

"I _know_ what you meant and right now, I see Sekai as a friend. It's not like I'm just going to fall in love with her right away, I've only been here for less than a month already - we would be going too fast if you know what I'm talking about."

"Yes I do, but if you had been living here for years - then would you..."

"I...I don't know - look Setsuna, I would like to stay and chat some more, but if I don't hurry then I'm going to be late for class - come to think of it, you will too."

I turned and started running off to class. I didn't stop running until I finally reached my classroom, "whew! Made it," I gasped and collapsed on my desk.

"Mr. Nakata!" called the teacher at the front of the classroom, "are you feeling alright?"

"Ah..yeah I'm fine."

"Well at least you made it, otherwise I would have to give you a serious talk later." I gulped when I heard that. I took out my books and didn't say a single word all day.

After the long day of classes, I went over to speak to Makoto. When I arrived, from what I could see - a big guy was trying to strangle Makoto, "it's time for you to grow up and be a man," the big guy said.

"Ahem," I coughed quietly, the big guy looked over to me, "let go of Makoto before I kick your sorry ass!"

"I'm just trying to teach him how to be a man!" the big guy said.

"You are not!" snapped Makoto, "you're strangling me! Let go you baka!"

"Say you're going to be a man and I'll let you go!"

"Are you kidding? I'm not going to do what you tell me to do!"

"Yep, this guy's a prevert too," I thought to myself.

"Are you ready to go Makoto?" a voice called out. The Big guy, Makoto and I looked over to the doorway and saw Kotonoha standing there.

"Score!" chuckled the big guy, "go for it Makoto, be a man."

He finally let Makoto go, allowing him to walk over towards Kotonoha. As he passed me, I whispered, "hey Makoto, whatever this guy said to you...ignore it, remember the advice I gave you last night."

"Don't worry Ryan I won't forget," then he added with a whisper, "I wasn't going to listen to Taisuke's advice anyways, he gives some of the worst advice ever."

I chuckled quietly when he said that. Makoto walked up to Kotonoha, said something to her, which made her blush - then she grabbed his left hand, then they headed out, "way to go Makoto," I whispered quietly.

"Hey Ryan!" screamed a voice from behind me.

I jumped and turned around to see who said that, "Sekai? Why did you do that for?"

"I don't know," she giggled, "I just felt like surprising you."

"Well you..."

"Are you two a couple?" Taisuke asked, "cause if you are, then I can give _you_ some advice," he was looking over to me, "when it comes to pleasing a young lady, I know how to please them."

"Sure I'll ask for your advice...when pigs fly! Come on Sekai, let's go - this guy's already getting on my nerves."

"Right behind you Ryan," said Sekai, and so we walked out of the classroom while Taisuke started shouting at me, but I took no notice of that baka whatsoever.

After we left the school, we walked into the park - there were lots of people there, some of which were throwing frisbees, one of which nearly hit me in the face, "hey watch it!" I shouted.

"Sorry about that!" a young man, probably around fifteen called.

"So Ryan, did you get into a fight with Otome today?"

"Nope not today," I answered as we sat down on a bench, "she didn't even bully Kotonoha."

"Wow! That's quite surprising - oh hey Ryan, I got some interesting news for you, I'm going to be working at the Radish - isn't that great?"

"Yeah it is, congratulations Sekai - just watch out for those preverts."

"Ha, I'm not worried about those bakas, should they try any of their stupid tricks or say anything stupid, then I'll give them a lesson they won't forget," she chuckled, then she spoke seriously, "at least I'll get some work experience."

"That is good," I smiled, "I should probably apply for a part time job too."

"Well you could always come work at the Radish...but I don't think you would look good in a dress," she giggled, I chuckled too. "Hey Ryan, do you think Makoto and Kotonoha are okay right now?"

"Oh yeah definetly, I gave Makoto some advice on what to do and what _not_ to do."

"Like touching a girl's chest."

"Right, when he said that..." I chuckled, "I slapped his face hard and I told him that only preverts think like that."

"I can't imagine you ever slapping anyone."

"Well you better believe it, cause I did - although my hand was still hurting after ten minutes, damn that was a hard slap."

We were quiet for a while, just watching the kids playing Frisbee or running alongside with their dogs. Sekai was the one who broke the silence, "hey Ryan, I would like to thank you for talking to me yesterday, I was so upset that I was just a nervous wreck - that was until you helped to calm me down."

"Hey what are friends for? I always like to help my friends. Heck, half the people from my old hometown will tell you the same thing...but I don't recommand going there."

"How come?"

"Well let's see, it was a rough neighbourhood and half the kids on my block would try to pound the crap out of you. It doesn't matter, girls or boys, they'll beat up anyone."

"Sounds terrible."

"Yeah it was, which is why I was glad to move away from my old neighbourhood and come to this city," I leaned back as far as I could and looked up to the sky, "I like living here, and I like hanging out with you guys."

"Well we like hanging out with you too Ryan, but I think we all agree that you do get yourself into _way_ too many fights."

"Hey, it's not my fault, it's those damn preverts and Otome too, if they would stop picking on my friends, then I wouldn't get into so many fights."

"You really do care don't you?"

"You bet I do. So Sekai, where would you like to go next?"

"I think I know a good place..."

"...I should've guessed you would've picked this place," I said when we arrived. It was the arcade, "you really like playing the games in this arcade don't you?"

"You bet I do," Sekai giggled, "so shall we go in?"

"Alright, ladies first."

"Alright...I bet I can kick your ass tonight."

"Oh really, we'll just see about that!"

Sekai and I went to play some of the video games, including the ones that involve using a gun. Sekai loves playing those games and being truthful here, so do I. At first, Sekai was able to kick my ass and beat me in those games, but not for long as I was able to beat her in several games.

"Damn you're too good," Sekai panted after a while.

"You're not so bad yourself," I panted as well. I looked at my watch, "oh damn, we've been playing for four hours already."

"That's nothing, Setsuna usually play for nine hours when we come here."

"What? You can't be serious...you're being serious," I said as I looked over to the serious look on Sekai's face, "wow!" was all I could say.

Before heading off back to Makoto's place, I walked with Sekai back to her street, "well that was a lot of fun, thanks for hanging out with me today Ryan."

"It was my pleasure Sekai, I enjoyed hanging out with you as well."

We stopped just outside of her place, we were both quiet for less than a minute before Sekai said, "if you're free on the weekend, give me a call and maybe we can hang out again."

"Sure, but next time we're going to some of my favourite places."

Sekai giggled, "alright you got a deal..." Sekai walked up to me and gave me a hug, "thank you for the hug yesterday, that really helped."

"You're welcome Sekai," I whispered softly into her right ear and wrapping my arms around her. We hugged for about two minutes before we seperated, "I'll see you later Sekai."

"See ya Ryan," she called and winked at me before she walked into her house.

"She's one crazy girl," I thought to myself, "that's one of the reasons why I like her."

I soon returned back to the apartment at around the same time Makoto showed up, "so how did your date go?" I asked.

"Well..." he said looking down, "it...was...Awesome!" he said looking up with a smile, "I got to hold Kotonoha's hand throughout the entire date, we went to all her favourite places and she told me a little bit about herself. Like for example, she knows how to play the guitar, she likes horror movies..."

"What? She likes watching horror movies?"

"Yeah, that's what she said. She also knows how to use a sword."

"Wow," I exclaimed.

"I even walked her back to her house and..." he looked around to see if anyone else was around, "she kissed me...on the left side of my face. Her lips are so soft and smooth."

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed again.

"I think this could be the start of a beautiful relationship, and it's thanks to the advice you gave me Ryan. Thanks a lot buddy."

"You're welcome...bro," I said quietly. Makoto just smiled at me, then he walked off to his room to get changed, "What a day," I sighed, "it sure beats a day back in my old hometown." I was so tired that I crashed onto the couch and went off to sleep.


	8. Sora

Hey there loyal readers, ThomasZoey3000 here again with the next installment of 'Different School Days', part one of two. This idea came to me shortly after I had completed the seventh chapter of this series, but I kinda put this idea to the side because of the other stories I was doing and because of my busy life. Anyways, in this chapter, we get introduced to another new character, this person Ryan and Scott know all too well. Remember, rating is still the same as always for there is swearing included in this chapter and before I forget, I want to thank Mike11208 who helped me with this chapter again and for helping me to come up with the names of the new characters - anyways, I hope you will enjoy the 8th chapter of...

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 8: Sora**_

It was mostly quiet on that Saturday September 24th morning, I was merely relaxing on the couch, "enjoying your rest Ryan?" a voice asked. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Itaru looking down at me.

"Yeah a little bit," I said as I got up. "I just wanted to rest my eyes for a few minutes."

"Did you have another nightmare last night?" she asked with a look of concern.

"No not this time, most of my dreams have been pretty good - apart from that one a few nights ago..." I shuddered just remembering that one. "Man, that was a bad one...but enough about me, how are you doing? Are you enjoying your stay here?"

"You bet I am, I love living here with my brother and mom again," she said cheerfully, "and spending quality family time with them too. I wish I could just stay here forever, but I'll be going back soon," she sighed, "I know my dad would get lonely without me around."

"Itaru," her mother called, "are you ready to go?"

"Yeah mom, I'm ready to go," she called back, "I'll see you later Ryan, I'm going shopping with my mom."

"Okay well have fun," I said.

"We will," she ran off to join her mother, "and don't worry, we told Makoto where we were going. See you later," she added with a giggle and a wink of her right eye.

No sooner had they walked out, then Makoto came out of his room, "morning Ryan, sleep well last night?"

"Yep, I sure did. What about you though huh? Did you sleep well last night?" He nodded and showed a smile, "it must've been a good dream."

"Oh it was...keep this a secret, okay?" I nodded. "Okay, well in my dream last night - I was with Kotonoha in a hotel room, we were both wearing yellow robes. We kissed for a while, then we..." he stopped.

"You don't need to say anymore Makoto," I said, "I think I know what you're talking about, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone of your dream..." It was then I heard my cellphone, "excuse me one second Makoto. Hello?"

"Yo my little brother, what's up?" said the voice on the other end.

"You? Why are you calling me?" I snapped angerily.

"Oh come on, I can't talk to my cousin?"

"What do you want?"

"What else? I want to meet up with you, I want you to show me around the city...and maybe show me some girls, if you know what I'm talking about."

I snarled angerily under my breath, "yes I know excatly what you're talking about, and the answer is no. Bye Sora," I hung up and put my phone back in it's holder, "damn."

"Who was that?" Makoto asked.

"That," I groaned, "was my dumbass cousin Sora, he's the _real_ king of preverts. He sees girls as sex objects. To everyone else though, he...he...well, he just gets under your skin and make you wish that you never met him."

"Yikes, he's that bad huh?"

"Yep, he's bad - no wait, worse than that. In the past, he has hurt innocent girls..." I paused, thinking about something else. I snapped out of my thoughts and added, "if you're going out with Kotonoha today, do not let that slimeball anywhere near her."

Makoto's face showed an expression of complete shock. Finally he snapped out of it, "don't worry buddy, I won't let him near her." He checked his watch, "speaking of Kotonoha, I better get going, I promised her that I meet up with her at the mall. I'll see you later Ryan."

"Yeah see you later Makoto." And with that, he went to the front door, got on his shows and walked out. A couple minutes later, I decided to head too, I was hoping though that I wouldn't run into that baka Sora.

I didn't actually run into him, but I did see that baka. He was talking to a girl - and that girl was Otome, "oh yeah he's making a big mistake," I thought to myself. I hid out of sight, but kept an eye on them.

I couldn't hear all he was saying to Otome, but I had a strong feeling it wasn't good. A second later, Otome herself gasped and then slapped him on the right side of his face, "stay away from me you freak! You sicko! How can you sleep at night? What a baka!"

"I never thought I would say this, but...way to go Otome, that's showing him," I whispered quietly.

Sora rubbed the side of his face, then he looked over to my direction and spotted me, "aren't you a little old for hide and seek Ryan?" he called.

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to talk to him. I walked out from the alley and over towards him, grumbling under my breath, "so what brings you and your punk ass attitude here?" I asked angerily.

For the record, Sora has dark brown hair, his eye color matches his hair and he also wears clothes that should really be in the garbage.

"Well, it's because I wanted to spend the day with my cousins, where's your brother Scott?"

"He and I are not on speaking terms right now. I don't even live in the same place as him anymore. Now why don't you get serious and tell me the real reason why you came here."

Sora chuckled, "okay you got me cous, the real reason I came here is to find myself a pretty girl. That one I was talking to is quite sexy, but she's not my type. So why don't you introduce me to some of your lady friends? What do you say to that?"

"No, I'm not introducing you to _any_ of them."

Sora looked at me completely shocked, but then smiled, "I get it, you're not going to introduce me to them yet, you're going to gather them all together and then introduce me to them - Ryan, I like the way you think. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find Scott - toodles," and he walked away.

"Otome said it best," I groaned, "he is a freak and a sicko...and I never thought I'd say that Otome was right about something. I must be going nuts or something," I sighed and walked away.

At around lunchtime, I decided to stop at the Radish and have something to eat, "you're becoming a regular around here aren't you?" asked a familar voice. I looked up and saw who the voice belonged to, it was Sekai in her waitress uniform, she had a smile on her face.

"Yeah I guess I am becoming a regular around here," I chuckled. "So tell me Sekai, are you having a good day so far?"

"What you can't tell by the smile on my face?" she giggled, "of course I'm having a good day Ryan, although Hikari isn't."

"Oh?" I asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's the usual problem with some of the preverts that come by around here, as usual they act like jerks, but there was this one costumer that got her all wound up. He came in, asked her for something, ah...I'm not excatly sure what he said. Anyways, that started an argument between the two of them and the owner had to come out to sort things out, he ordered the costumer to leave and told Hikari that if she loses her temper on a costumer again, she'll be fired."

"But it wasn't Hikari's fault, it was that costumer...wait a second," I paused before asking, "this costumer that was bugging Hikari, did he have dark brown hair and trashy clothes?"

"Yep, that's him excatly - do you know the guy?"

"All too well, he's my dumb...cousin Sora," I corrected myself before I swore, I knew there were kids in the resturant and I didn't want to upset them or their parents, "all I can say is that he's really bad to girls."

"Yeah I kinda got that when Hikari told me about him," Sekai said in disgust. "now are you going to order something or not?"

"Oh right, silly me, I almost forgot - ah, I think I'll get the curry."

"Oh big surprise," she giggled, then she added, "I'll be right back with your order sir."

"You got a problem with me and curry? You getting jealous of the curry? I thought you knew better, Sekai." I stuck my tounge out at her. She stuck her tounge out back at me and then walked away still giggling.

She returned fifteen minutes later with the curry, "enjoy sir," she said kindly, but before she walked off back to the kitchen, she stuck her tounge out at me again.

"What is it with that girl?" I thought to myself.

I pushed that thought to the side and went on to eating the curry. As I was eating, I heard my cellphone ring. I pulled it out and checked to see who it was, "oh terrific," I groaned, "I wonder what that jerk wants now..." it was Scott, he was calling me, which is quite odd considering that baka never calls me. I answered it, but kept it very away from my ear...

Good thing I did too, cause in the next second, I heard loud shouting coming out of the ear piece.

Other costumers looked at me in surprise, "sorry," I said to them, "it's just my brother, he has a loud booming voice, just give me a second to turn down the volume..." and that's just what I did. The other costumers went back to eating, then I spoke to my brother, "Scott, if you're going to call me again, then do you mind not shouting at me?"

"Shut up baka!" he snapped at me, "now listen to me, I need to tell you something important..."

"Don't tell me, Sora is back in town and he stole something important of yours. Am I right?"

"Yes...what the hell, how did you know he was back?"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I met up with the guy just before you called me?"

There was a short silence for about ten seconds, then at last Scott spoke, "shut up baka," that's all he could think of. I just rolled my eyes and sighed, "whatever, the point is...if you see that baka again, call me and let me know where he is...he stole my weed!"

"Ah-ha, and have you ever stopped to think that maybe that's a good thing?"

"Oh...shut the fuck up!" Then he hung up.

"Yeah, nice talking to you too," I said sarcatically.

Sekai came back a second later to see how I was doing, "you've hardly touched your curry Ryan," she said in surprise, "is there something wrong with it?"

"Oh no there's nothing with the curry Sekai," I said, "I was just on the phone with Scott."

"Scott?" she asked in surprise. She sat down in the other seat while I took a few more bites of the curry, "but I thought that brother of yours hated your guts."

"Well that's a nice way of saying he doesn't like me," I muttered quietly before I spoke up, "well he doesn't, but when it comes to dealing with Sora, then that's when he puts his hatred a side to warn me."

"Yikes, Sora must be bad..." she stopped, "he's back."

I looked to the front of the resturant and saw my cousin come in, "hey Ryan buddy," he said walking over to my booth, "I've been looking all over for you. Want a smoke?" he pulled out what looked like one of Scott's smokes.

I gasped when I saw it, "Put that away you baka," I said firmly.

"Oh relax, it's just a piece of paper," he chuckled, "but you should've seen the look on your face - it's priceless..." he looked over to the other side of the table, "Well hello cutie, are you a friend of my buddy Ryan?"

"Yes I am," she said feeling a little uneasy, "now if you'll excuse me, I got to get back to work." She got up slowly from her seat and headed off for the kitchen, keeping a close eye on Sora.

"Hey buddy, she's cute, who is she, tell me?"

"Her name is Sekai, and that's all I'm telling you," I said firmly. "Now are you going to order something or not?"

"Of course I'll order something...I'll ask the next girl that comes out." The next girl that came out with Hikari and as you can guess, she wasn't too happy to see Sora again, "why the sour face babe?"

"Don't call me babe," Hikari said firmly, "and don't you try any of your dirty tricks."

"Excuse me Watiress," called one of the costumers, "we're ready to order."

"Okay I'm coming," called Hikari. She turned and started walking away...that's when Sora did one of his stupid antics. He slapped Hikari's butt.

Hikari spun around quickly angerily, she looked furious, "I just love it when you girls get mad, it's makes you look cute. Now why don't you take an early lunch and come with me?"

"Forget it," Hikari said angerily, "I'm not going anywhere with a jerk like you! Now if you're not going to order anything, then I suggest that you leave."

"Very well then, just get me a soda sweet cheeks," and he slapped Hikari's butt again, she looked like she was going to blow a vain.

"Stop that!" she snapped.

"Oh no, you can't yell at costumers or you'll lose your job. The costumer is always right remember? So get me a soda and..."

I had seen enough, I was about ready to give Sora a piece of my mind, but it turns out that I didn't have to as the manager of the resturant came out and grabbed Sora by the collar of his shirt, "I already gave you a warning already, but since you don't seem to listen that well, I'm going have to ask you to leave and not come back!"

With that said, the manager kicked Sora out of the resturant, "Fine," he sniffed, "there are other girls in this city who'll want to have a good time with me," he walked away, smirking as he left.

"Thank you," said Hikari kindly.

"You're welcome kiddo," the manager said kindly, "I just couldn't stand by and let you get abused again. Oh and I'm sorry about shouting at you earlier, I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you for no stupid reason - I apologize once again, keep up the good work."

"I will," Hikari smiled and went happily to work.

After I was done eating, I payed for my meal and then headed off, "have a good day Ryan," called Hikari.

"Thanks, you too!" I called back. I hadn't gotten far before I felt someone bump into me, "what the..." I spun round and found Sekai standing right behind me, "Sekai?"

"That's right, the one and only," she giggled.

"Where did you spring from? And...aren't you suppose to be working right now?"

"Not really, I've been working all morning and my boss said that I could take the rest of the day off."

"Okay...now will you answer my first question? Where did you spring from?"

"Sorry Ryan, but that's for me to know and you to find out," she giggled. She paused before continuing with a serious tone in her voice, "as I was leaving though, I ran into that dopey cousin of yours and would you believe that he asked me to have..." she paused and looked around before continuing, "you know what with him?"

"That's not the worst thing he's done to a girl," I groaned.

"I know, he slapped Hikari's butt...three times today from what Hikari told me."

"Well that was bad, but it's not the worst. He once kidnapped a girl and he..." I looked all around, there weren't that many people walking past us, but still I decided to whisper this part into Sekai's left ear, "he raped her."

"He what?" she exclaimed.

"Shh, don't shout so loud."

"Sorry," she said almost in a whisper, "but seriously, he did that? When did he do this?"

"Three years ago and it's actually the main reason that Scott became who he is, a drug crazied wacko," I sighed, then took in a deep breath and told Sekai the entire story, "three years ago, Sora was visiting us, it was his first time coming by himself - usually he came with his parents. Scott and I welcomed him to our house, but as he came into our house - I could tell that something was different about him like...he wasn't the old Sora that we had known for years."

"At first, I thought maybe it was nothing, after all, Scott and I hadn't seen him in years so maybe he had changed a bit. The following next day, Scott introduced his girlfriend, Mitsuki to Sora during the little tour of our old hometown..."

"Hold on a second, I thought you said Scott always hated you," Sekai interupted.

I stared at her firmly, "I'm just about to explain that Sekai." She went quiet, "like I said before, Scott was a kind brother, he was a completely different person than what he is now. It's actually because of his kindness that he had gotten a girlfriend," I chuckled quietly, "Mitsuki was alot like our Kotonoha, a little nervous around boys..."

"Mostly because they say stupid things to her like the preverts do nowadays right?"

"Yep, you guessed right," I nodded and then continued, "anyways, after the introduction Sora said to us, 'I wish I could find a girl like her and spend some quality with her, if you know what I mean'. Naturally, Scott and I thought it meant going out on dates with the girl, hugging her and then kissing her, 'Oh don't worry Sora', Scott said to him 'you'll find someone special someday, then you two will be able to spend some time together. Who knows, you'll probably find her while you're here.' "

"And unfortunately, he did and that girl...was Mitsuki," I added angerily, "a few nights later, Scott was suppose to meet up with Mitsuki for a dinner date, but she never showed up. He called me and asked me if I could help look for her - well, I didn't have to look too far to find her. As I reached the train station, I found Mistuki laying in the bushes badly hurt and almost naked from head to toe and she was nearly covered in blood. I called an ambulance and called Scott to tell him what happened."

"He swore he would get the baka that attacked his Mitsuki and we soon found out from her that it was Sora. He wanted to teach Sora a lesson, but I convinced him to let the police handle the situation, 'justice will be served, trust me Scott'. 'Very well, call the police'. And so I did, I told them everything, including Sora's location and they went after him."

"I'm assuming that they didn't get to him right?"

"Right again Sekai," I groaned, "Sora had skipped town, he just disappeared out of sight. Shortly after that, Mitsuki dumped Scott, 'I don't ever want to see you again, I trusted you and yet you introduced me to that...that...freak!' she said with so many tears in her eyes, 'seeing you again will just bring back that horrible memory'. 'Very well Mitsuki, I'll go...I just hope that one day soon, you'll find someone who will love you for who are.' He got up and left with tears in his eyes."

"After that, everthing changed. Scott started smoking 'weed' in the hopes of forgetting what Sora did and his ex-girlfriend too, it worked too well. He became so crazied that 'weed' was all he ever thought about, his kind behaviour disappeared and he's also devolped a disliking towards me because I'm the only thing that keeps reminding him of Mitsuki and what Sora did to her."

There was a short silence after I had finished telling Sekai everything. After a minute or so, she finally spoke up, "I...I...I just can't believe this, it's so horrible."

"Yeah it is," I sighed unhappily, "who knows, maybe if Sora hadn't done what he did, Scott would still be with Mitsuki, plus he and I would get along so much better than we do nowadays."

"Who knows," she said as we started walking, "have you spoken to Mitsuki since then?"

"Only a couple of times, she was recovering from that night, but she said that every night, her nightmares always showed what that baka, as I'm going to kindly put it, did to her. The last time I spoke to her was two years ago, I haven't heard from her since - gosh, I hope she's okay."

"We can only hope - so Ryan, do you want to hang out with me for the rest of the day?"

"Do you even need to ask me? You know my answer is going to be yes."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" she grabbed onto my right hand and then dragged me down to the main business district of the city.

Sekai and I walked around the district for at least an hour, hung out at the arcade for probably two hours and then we headed off to the mall. When we arrived, we ran into Makoto and Kotonoha, who had just arrived after seeing a movie, "I assume it was a horror film," said Sekai.

"Not this time," said Kotonoha, "this time Makoto and I decided to watch a comedy based film."

"It was the only movie playing at the theatre," added Makoto, "it was a very good movie, both Kotonoha and I enjoyed it." Kotonoha nodded her head in agreement.

"Well as long as you two had a good time together," I smiled, "that's what counts," I sighed at that moment, "listen, there's something I need to tell you two..."

Before I could say anything, we heard Sekai's phone ring, "I got a text message from Setsuna...oh no," she gasped, "she's saying that she's seen Hikari being kidnapped by some weird guy with trashy clothes on."

"Sora," I snarled, "he's at it again. Did Setsuna say where she saw Hikari and Sora?"

"Near our school," Sekai answered, "why?"

"I just need to know, cause there's someone I need to call to help me teach that Sora a lesson and hopefully prevent him from doing what he did to Mitsuki." I got out my cellphone and called that person, "Listen, I need your help - Sora has kidnapped another girl and he's going to do what he did before. I really need your help...Scott."


	9. Settling An Old Score

And now for the continuation of where we left off in the last episode. Rating is the same as always with some swearing included and a lot of action, anyways that's all I have to say for now. And now here's the 9th episode of...

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 9: Settling an Old Score**_

After making the phone call to Scott, the four of us got onto a train and rode it all the way to the station closest to our school. During that ride, I was wondering if Scott would really help or if he would try to pound the crap out of me.

"I know he hates my guts," I thought to myself, "but I know that deep down that he still cares about Mitsuki and wants more than anything to get the son of a bitch that raped her."

Sekai whispered to Makoto and Kotonoha, "that takes a lot of guts what he's doing. I mean how many people do you know that would call someone who basically acts like a jerk to everyone and hates you more than anything else, and ask him to help save another person?"

"He is a brave person," Kotonoha whispered back. All three looked over to me, they knew it wasn't easy for me to ask Scott for help.

It wasn't long before we arrived at the station where Scott was waiting, he stared at me with the same angry stare he's been giving me ever since that night. He walked forwards and climbed on board, just a few seconds before the doors closed. We stood there in complete silence until he broke the silence, "you know as soon as we get to your school, I'm going to have first crack at that Sumbitch! I'll make him pay for what he did to Mitsuki!"

"He does still care for that girl," Sekai whispered to Makoto and Kotonoha.

"Who is this Mitsuki anyways?" Makoto asked.

Sekai explained everything to Kotonoha and Makoto while I spoke with Scott, "Scott, for goodness sakes, stop swearing okay? There are kids riding on this train." Scott grumbled under his breath. "Look Scott, you're not alone here, I want to get revenage for Mitsuki, I cared about that girl too. But don't forget, he has kidnapped another girl named Hikari and he just might do what he did to Mitsuki."

"Yeah you said that on the phone," Scott grunted, "so what's the plan dummy?"

"Well at least you're not swearing," I thought to myself. "Well the plan is get Hikari away from him, unharmed. I'll try only once to try to talk him out of it and he doesn't..." I paused as I looked over to my brother.

"Then that's when I will give him a knuckle sandwhich!" he snarled angerily.

"Ah...yeah, that's what we'll do," I muttered quietly.

Setsuna was standing outside the school when we arrived, "where is that dumbass cousin of ours?" Scott asked rudely to Setsuna, "I want to give him a pounding!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed unhappily, "still the same as always," I thought to myself.

Setsuna didn't seem to be offended by Scott's rude attitude, she just turned towards the school and pointed to one direction, "last I saw them, that boy was dragging Hikari towards the lounge."

"Should've guessed," Scott and I groaned in unison. Scott growled crossly and ran towards the school, "wait up Scott, you don't know where it is!"

"Oh and you do?" he asked, "have you done it with that girl over there?" he was pointing over to Sekai.

"Of course not!" I snapped, "I haven't done it with anyone, get those stupid thoughts out of your head you moron. And yes I do know where it is, I gave myself a tour of this school on my first day."

"Fine then, lead the way oh fearless one."

"As you wish - oh and do me a favour and keep your trap shut!"

"Why you...!"

"You shout like that and Sora will hear us. If you want to get revange for Mitsuki, then I suggest you be quiet as we go in."

"Alright, I'll be quiet," he grumbled.

"Good," I turned back to face my friends, "I want you four to stay out here, just in case Sora does get past us. You see him, call the police understood?"

"Understood," Makoto and Kotonoha said in unison. Setsuna nodded her head as if to say she understood.

Before we walked in, Sekai called out to me, "Save Hikari and kick that guy's sorry ass!" I responded back with a nod, then both Scott and I walked into the school.

The hallways looked kind of spooky what with all the lights out and nobody walking around, "so this is what it's like to walk around the school late at night," I said out loud.

Scott just scoffed under his breath, "with that the way you're talking, it almost sounds like you've never gone to the school late at night."

"I have never been to a school late at night."

"Wuss!"

"I am not a wuss," I snapped back quietly, "I just never had a need to come to the school late at night." Scott sniffed loudly and started walking up a stairwell, "Scott, the lounge is further down this hallway."

He continued to show me the same angry look he's had on his face all evening.

"Look Scott, I am aware that because of me, Sora got away last time. Maybe if I let you pound the crap out of Sora, then maybe you and Mitsuki would still be together. I'm sorry okay? I just thought that maybe we could settle this without using voilence."

"Well unfortantly, voilence _is_ the only way to settle things in this situation."

"Yes I'm well aware of that," I sighed, "I'm sorry Scott. I'm sorry for letting you and Mitsuki down."

There was a moment of silence between the two of us, that was until Scott broke the silence by saying, "stop beating yourself up over this Ryan, I don't blame you for this."

"You don't?" I asked in surprise.

"No I don't, after all you were just trying to help, even if it wasn't the best idea and it caused Mitsuki to break up with me..." he paused and turned away, I think he was wiping a tear away from his eye. He spun round to face me, "the only person I blame is Sora, I trusted that bastard and he took advantage of our trust and hurt someone we both cared about. Now I want to help make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else, but I can't do that without your help, you know the school like the back of your hands, so...will you lead us both to where Sora is?"

There was another short moment of silence between us, for that one moment there, it seemed like the old Scott I had known had come back. It was good to hear that Scott doesn't blame me for everything that happened that night. Finally I spoke up and said, "of course I will, just follow me, let's give that sumbitch a piece of our minds."

"Now you're speaking my language!"

And so, Scott followed me down the hallway. As we got closer, we could hear Hikari screaming for help. When we reached the door, Scott and I kicked it down and walked in. There was Sora trying to kiss Hikari on the lips, she still had her clothes on, which means that either Sora hasn't had the time to remove them (not that we're going to allow him to do that) or Hikari has been putting up one heck of a fight.

"Scott? Ryan? Nice to see you two boys, but do you mind waiting outside the room until I'm done here?"

"You're doing no such thing Sora!" I snapped, "we're not going to let you do this to Hikari!"

"You have a choice dumbass!" Scott said firmly, "back away from the girl and surrender peacefully to the police, or we're going to beat the living shit out of you!"

Sora just laughed as though he thought we were joking, "you two will beat the shit out of me? That I would like to see...later! Right now I have business to attend to."

"Alright you asked for it!" Scott ran towards Sora and did a flying tackle, knocking our dumb-ass cousin to the floor, "get that girl out of here Ryan!"

"Right!"

I ran over to the table to get Hikari free. Sora had tied her down with straps, they were difficult to break at first, but I soon had Hikari free, "are you okay Hikari?"

"I'm better now thank you."

"Good. Now I want you to run to the front enterance, Sekai and the others are waiting outside for you."

"What are you going to do?"

I looked back over to Scott and Sora, "I'm going to help my brother. Now go, we'll hold him back." Hikari didn't need telling twice, she ran quickly out of the room and down the hallway.

"Anytime you want to help Ryan!" Scott called, "you can get in here and kick this bastard's sorry ass!"

I spun around and saw my brother struggling aganist Sora. Somehow, Sora managed to break free, got to his feet and ran for the door, "I want that girl!" he shouted.

But he never got to the door, mostly because I had tripped him, making him fall face first onto the floor.

"Did you not hear us before when we told you that you're not going to harm Hikari!" I snapped.

Now Sora was mad, he got to his feet and punched me in the stomach. He was about to punch me in the face, but never got the chance cause he got punched...by Scott!

"Thanks bro," I said.

He nodded back before turning his attention back to Sora, "I will never forgive you for what you did to Mitsuki, she was the girl of my dreams, but thanks to you, she broke up with me..." he grabbed Sora by the collar on both sides of his shirt, "now after all this time, I'm finally going to give you just what is coming to you."

Again Sora laughed, "you really think you're going to beat me up while Ryan stands by and watches? I don't think so. He'll pound the crap out of you for trying such a thing and I will be able to escape and take all the girls he knows, maybe even that cute girl he's been hanging out with today."

I walked up to Scott and Sora with a serious look on my face.

"See Scott, I told you he won't let you do that," Sora snickered.

"Scott, let go of him," I said firmly.

Scott stared at me angerily, but did what he was told. Sora snickered, "thanks Ryan, I knew you..."

He never finished as I punched him in the gut hard, "I'll never let you harm my friends you fucking scumbag! You will not touch Hikari," I punched him in the gut again, "or Kotonoha," I threw another punch to his gut, "or Setsuna," the next punch went to his face, right on the nose, "and I certainly won't let you touch Sekai." I threw another big punch at his face, making him fall backwards towards the wall. "As for this punch, this is for Mitsuki!" I threw one more punch at his stomach, making him groan in pain and fall to his knees.

He panted heavily while blood dripped from his nose.

Scott walked forwards towards Sora, the look on his face showed so much anger, "now it's my turn," he lifted Sora by the collar of his shirt, "I've been waiting a long time for this moment...this is also for Mitsuki!" He threw another punch towards Sora, making him fall to the ground, panting heavily once more.

He reached into his mouth and groaned as he pulled out a tooth, "you knocked out my tooth," he snarled angerily at us, "alright you sons of bitches, you wanted to play - well now let's play." He got up and charged at us.

He did a flying tackle, knocking Scott to the ground. As I tried to get him off my brother, Sora spun round and punched me hard in the face. Blood started dripping out of my nose.

"See how you like it!" snapped Sora, "when I'm threw with you two fucking losers, then that is when I'll take all four of those girls."

"Fat chance sucker!" Scott shouted and punched Sora in the face again.

"Even if you manage to get past us Sora," I groaned in pain, "you'd never get to the girls, Makoto will kick your sorry ass down. Plus they all have cellphones, they'll call the police before you can get one inch close to them."

"It's not like we're going to let you go after this fight is over," added Scott, "we're going to drag your sorry ass to jail."

"For all the crimes you commited, you are going to pay for what you did Sora."

"NEVER!" Sora snapped and tried to punch me again, but instead got kicked by me in the stomach. I picked him up by the collars of his shirt, then I punched him hard on the right side of his face.

He wobbled backwards, straight towards Scott, "This is going to hurt you, more than it's going to hurt me!" And he threw a giant sized punch on the left side of Sora's face. He wobbled over towards me, only to recieve another punch on the right side of the face by me. He wobbled back a bit and stopped.

"Scott...I will...punch..." Sora walked wobbly over to Scott, only to get another punch on the left side of his face.

That punch did the trick, Sora groaned in pain and collapsed onto the floor. I walked over towards him, "is he..."

"Nope he's not," I said, "he's just been knocked out cold. Man is he ever going to feel sore tomorrow...especially when he wakes up in a jail cell. Come on Scott, let's get out of here and call for the police."

"Good idea," he panted, "oh boy, I'm beat."

Out in the hallway, I made the phone call to the police, telling them where to find Sora and explained about the fight we had with him, "well they said they're on their way, and they said they'll let our little fight with Sora slide this time, as long as we promise not to do that again."

"Whatever," Scott sniffed, "I'm outta here." He stopped walking after a few steps and looked back towards me, "you and I made a good team today, we did good."

"Yes we did," I nodded in agreement.

"But don't think we're going to be doing something like this again. Next time we fight, I am going to punch and kick the shit out of you. Tonight though, you have earned my respect, so the fighting stops."

"Alright Scott," I said quietly.

"Oh and if you ever get the chance, call Mitsuki and let her know that the scumbag who raped her has finally got what he deserved."

"I will," I nodded.

Scott nodded back before he headed off for the front doors of the school. I stayed in the school until the police arrived, I lead them straight to where Sora was.

"Whew!" said one of the police officers, "you certainly gave him a pounding."

"Well we had to, Sora was going to rape one of my friends."

"And where is this other boy you were talking about?"

"Oh he...he had to go home and take care of his mother," I answered. It wasn't a lie, Scott did go home and I assumed he was taking care of mom ever since I moved out of the apartment.

"Very well then," the officer turned his attention back to Sora, "our department has been told to keep a look out for you. You're wanted for multiple counts of robbery, attempted murders and for the rapping of the girl, Mitsuki."

Sora growled under his breath, but his growling changed to groans.

"You're under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held aganist you in a court of law," the officer said to him. Sora made his last mistake, he turned to look over to the officer, then he spat in the officer's face.

"Bite me stupid copper," he snarled angerily.

"Okay now that's resisting arrest," said the officer angerily. Sora struggled a little bit, that was until he saw the tazor gun being brought out, "if you don't calm down, then we're going to shock you."

I guess Sora has a fear of being shocked, cause he did calm down and walked with the police without struggling aganist them. Before he was taken out of the room though, he spat out his tounge at me while showing an angry stare on his face.

Before I walked out of the school, I stopped by the man's washroom to wash the blood off my face. I looked like a train wreck and I felt it too, "I'll admit this about that crazy sumbitch, he sure can throw a mean punch."

When I was done, I walked out to join my friends, who were all looking worried.

"Hey Ryan, you look like you've gone five rounds with the heavy weight champion in wrestling," Sekai said in a teasing way.

"How do you feel Ryan?" Kotonoha asked kindly.

"Well other than feeling sore all over, I actually feel pretty good right now," I answered, "cause finally after all this time, Scott and I finally brought that crazied nutcase to justice and maybe Mitsuki can sleep easier at night knowing that the person who raped her is finally behind bars." I looked over to Hikari, "how do you feel Hikari?"

"Well I'm still overall stunned by what just happened, but I'm grateful that you and that other boy came to my rescue. Tell you what, next time you come by the Radish, your meal is on the house."

"No that's okay Hikari, you don't need to do that. As long as you're safe and not hurt, then that's the best kind of reward I could ask for."

Hikari showed a small smile to me, "you truely are an amazing person Ryan, and I thank you again for saving me. Now if you'll excuse me, I got to get going before my parents start worrying about me. I'll see you guys later," she waved to us, then ran off for home.

"You did good tonight Ryan," said Makoto.

"Yeah I guess I did, but we wouldn't have known Sora kidnapped Hikari had it not been for Setsuna..." I turned around to thank her, but found that she was nowhere to be seen.

"She left shortly after Scott left," said Sekai.

"That girl sure is mysterious," I thought to myself, "and I still don't know how she knows Sekai."

"I better get going too," said Kotonoha, "if I don't get home before the time of my curfew, then my dad will yell at me and ground me for a week."

Before she could walk away, she felt a hand grabbing onto her hand. She looked back and saw who was holding her hand, it was Makoto, "would it be okay if I walk with you back to your house?" he asked kindly.

Kotonoha was at a loss of words at first, but she did answer Makoto's question by saying, "yes," she nodded while blushing.

Makoto smiled back at her, then he turned his attention back to me, "if I don't make it back before you do, can you let Itaru and my mom know that I'm walking Kotonoha home?"

"Sure Makoto, I'll tell them that," I said.

Both Makoto and Kotonoha got on the next train for Kotonoha's stop. I didn't get on the same train, mostly because I had something I had to do first...phone Mitsuki, "hello?" the voice on the other end answered.

"Hi Mitsuki, it's Ryan Nakata."

"Ryan Nakata?" she asked in complete surprise, "I haven't heard from you in two years, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay," I groaned a little bit, "although I feel a little sore."

"What?"

"You'll find out why in a second. I have some good news for you. You know Sora, the jerk that...attacked you that day? Well, he's finally been brought to justice, he's going to jail."

There was a short pause before I heard some light whimpering, "he's really going to jail?"

"Yes he is, he was just arrested a few minutes ago," I chuckled nervously before adding, "you can thank both Scott and myself for bringing him to justice, we...well we kind of fought him just before he could attack another girl."

Again, there was a short pause, "Mitsuki, are you there?"

"Yes Ryan, I'm still here. It's...it's...it's just wonderful news to hear that he's finally going to jail. I've been worried that he would come back to do what he did to me again, but now...now maybe I can sleep at night without having to look out my window for him. Thank you so much Ryan, please tell Scott that for me."

"I will."

"How is your brother anyways?"

"Ah...well, he hasn't been the same since you and he...seperated. The Scott Nakata you once knew is gone I'm afraid and in his place...well, it's someone you don't want to talk to or see."

"Oh I see," there was a pause once more as another train rattled through the station, "I'm sorry Ryan."

"Nah it's okay," I said to her, "but I'm sure Scott will listen when I tell him you said 'thank you'."

"Hope so...ah, you'll have to excuse me, I got to go, I'm going to therapy. Hope we can talk again Ryan."

"Yeah same here Mitsuki, I'll talk to you later." After she said good-bye, I hung up my phone and placed it back in it's holder. I sighed quietly and leaned back on the seat. "Sekai, I know you're standing near the stairwell!" I called to her.

"Darn you're good," she said in surprise. She walked over to the seat and sat down next to me, "are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm alright. Mitsuki was quite pleased with the news that Sora is going to jail, now she can sleep at night without having to worry about Sora coming back after her." I sighed once more and leaned back again, "oh boy what a night, first my dumb cousin comes back, he kidnaps Hikari and I call Scott to come help stop him."

"Well this sure beats an ordinary day," Sekai giggled, trying to liven the mood. She got up from the seat and walked close to the yellow line at the edge of the platform to see if the train was coming, "you're a real hero you know that? You saved Hikari, you got revenage for Mitsuki and you asked for help from someone who hates your guts, Hikari was right when she said you truely are an amazing person...and modest too I might add." She paused before turning around to face me, "hey Ryan, I got a question to ask you, if I had been in Hikari's position, would you have come to save me?"

"Of course I would, I would never allow that scumbag to hurt or any of my friends."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I'm the type of person who cares alot for the people in his life and I will defend those people when someone is threatening them. If anyone threatend you Sekai, I would protect you from them," I said just as the train arrived. I got up from my seat and walked up to the edge of the platform, "now, are you coming or not?"

"Huh?"

I turned around to face her, "if you don't hurry up, this train is going to leave without you," I chuckled. I stopped a second later and held out my right hand, "I'll walk you home okay?"

"Okay," she nodded and grabbed my hand, then pulled me towards the train, "come on slow poke, I'm not missing this train because of you."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I laughed as we boarded the train. "Yeah, this sure does beat an ordinary day," I thought to myself and sat down next to Sekai while the doors closed and the train pulled out of the station.


	10. A Day at the Hot Springs

Hello there loyal readers, it's ThomasZoey3000 once again with the latest installment of Different School Days. Truth be told, after I had finished episode 9 of this series, I had come up with the idea of this episode, but I had other projects I had to finish up first, so I put the story idea to the side for a while until I had gotten alot of those projects done. In this episode, not only do I _finally_ give Ryan the proper chance to get to know Setsuna (Which is what I wanted to do before, but I didn't know that much about her), but another secret will be revealed about Ryan's past and about his family. As usual, the rating is M and the date of this chapter is Sunday September 25th 2011 and now here's the long awaited tenth episode of...

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 10: A Day at the Hot Springs**_

After all the crazy events that happened the night before, all I really wanted was a chance to relax and I think everyone of my friends were thinking the same thing. Which is why on this day, we were going to be at the Hot Springs along with Makoto, Kotonoha, Kokoro, Setsuna, Sekai and Hikari...oh and before I forget, she invited that jerk Taisuke along. Sadly, Itaru couldn't join us, she had gone home earlier that morning.

"While we're here," he was saying to Makoto while we were getting changed, "I'm going to show you how to become a man."

"Hey Taisuke, as long as you brought up that subject, how's _being a man_ working out for you?" I asked with a sly grin. I got no reply, unless you call me a snarl a reply.

"For your information, the ladies love me and they all want to be with me."

"Really? I can name several that don't want to be with you. Let's see, there's Sekai, who thinks you're the scum of the Earth, then there's Kotonoha, who has a huge crush on Makoto, then there's Kokoro, who's way too young for you and...should I continue?"

"Uh shut up! Besides, Hikari likes me, otherwise why would she invite me along?"

"He's got a point there Ryan," said Makoto.

"Okay so maybe there is a girl that likes you, I'll give you that one, but still I don't think it's a good idea for Makoto to take any advice from you. He wants to have a wonderful relationship, not one that end up having his head cut off."

"I really wish you didn't say that," Makoto groaned.

"Sorry about that. Listen Taisuke, I'm sure you mean well, but most of the advice you give isn't really good, it only comes back to beat you in the ass."

"And how would you know?"

"Cause I've seen it. Now are you guys ready to go to the hot springs?"

"Not yet," they both answered in unison.

"Alright then, I guess I'll go alone, I'll see you guys in a bit." I put on my robe and walked out of the room.

The Hot springs area is split into two different areas, one side was for the girls and the other side was for the boys. To be honest though, when I walked into the 'male' area of the hot springs, I found that there was no one else in there.

"Huh, guess I get it all to myself for a while."

I took off my robe and stepped into the hot springs, "ahh! That feels so nice," I sighed happily to myself. It seemed as though that all the stress and worries I've had just disappeared as I relaxed, "glad we decided to come here today."

A few minutes later, Taisuke and Makoto finally arrived.

"What took you guys so long?" I asked.

"We had a little bit of an argument," said Makoto, "trust me Ryan, you don't want to know the details."

"Does it look like I want to know? No I don't, I just want to relax. The water's really nice and it's so peaceful...hey hold on a second, where's Taisuke? I thought he came in with you."

"Of course he came in with me, he's..." Makoto turned, only to discover that Taisuke had disappeard, "shit! Where did that son of a bitch get off too?"

"Knowing him, he's going to spy on the girls," I sighed unhappily. I stood up, grabbed my robe and quickly put it back on, "come on, let's go get that bastard."

We didn't have to look too far as we found him standing just outside of the girl's area of the hot springs.

"Come on Hikari...ahh, slow down baby," he was whispering.

In the next moment, he felt a slap on the back of the head, "ow! Who the fuck did that?"

"Oh come on, you knew you had it coming." He spun quickly and saw me standing right behind him with a firm look on my face, "don't you know you're not suppose to be spying on the girls."

"I wasn't spying on them, I just wanted to see Hikari."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed before speaking, "there's a time and a place to wait for someone and now is _not_ the right time you dumb baka. Now get away before someone sees us and kicks the crap out of..."

Someone did see us and that someone was Sekai with a wet towel wrapped around her. She stood in the doorway leading to the girl's hot springs area with an angry stare on her face. Makoto, very wisely had backed away from where we were.

"You preverts!" and the last thing I remember was seeing Sekai clenching her fist. The next thing I knew was that I was leaning aganist the wall after being smacked by her.

"Well Makoto, you learned the hard way of what happens when you spy on someone," I said to him after we returned to our room.

"I wasn't spying you baka!" snapped Taisuke.

I simply ingored him, "you did the right thing Makoto, you stood well back so that way you weren't involved in this..." I groaned as I felt the left side of my face, "Damn, that Sekai can sure throw a mean punch."

"You're telling me, she actually slapped me on the first day we met."

"What? Why would she do that?"

"I thought she had told everyone that I like Kotonoha, I was shouting at her and I grabbed her right arm and the next thing I knew, she slapped the left side of my face."

"Funny, she seems to like slapping people on either side of their face. Ow," I groaned again.

I slowly got to my feet, "where are you going?" Taisuke asked with a raised eyebrow, "going to spy on Sekai and get bitch-slapped again?"

"Shut up baka!" I snapped at him, "I'm going to walk around this place and check it out, I'll see you guys in a bit."

"Yeah fine see you in a bit," Taisuke called out to me, "just watch yourself, prevert." I stopped and gave him the middle finger before walking out of the room. He then turned to Makoto (I could hear them from outside the room), "why do you hang out with someone like that? He thinks he's such a know-it-all."

"Well I'll admit that he's not a know-it-all, even he could admit that..." it's true, I did admit that, but very quietly so that they couldn't hear me, "but overall Ryan is a good guy to hang out with, plus he's giving me plenty of good advice about what to do and what _not_ to do around girls, and he also lives with me and my family."

"Why not just kick him out?"

"I couldn't do that, trust me if you knew the whole story of his family, you wouldn't want to kick him at all."

I sighed quietly before walking away, "you may think you know everything about me, but there's some things you don't know about me," I thought only to myself.

I had barely gotten down the hallway when I saw Setsuna, "hey," I said, "why aren't you in the hot springs with Sekai and the others?"

"I just wanted to walk around for a bit," she answered.

"Really? Cause that's what I'm doing right now before going back to the hot springs." We were quiet for a few moments, that was until I finally broke the silence, "ever since I came to this town, I haven't really gotten the chance to know you that well."

"What would you like to know?"

"Well for starters, I would like to know how long you've known Sekai."

"I've known Sekai ever since she and I were kids, we're childhood friends. I met her in kindergarden, I was sitting all by myself underneath a tree when she came over and asked if I wanted to play jump rope, I wasn't sure if I should at first, but after a moment or so, I decided to play along with her. From that point onwards, we became friends and we often hang out whenever we can."

"Sekai is a good person," Setsuna continued, "but she can be a little emotional."

"Yeah, I already got the message earlier," I groaned, rubbing the side of my face.

"Anger is just one of those emotions, there's also the sad side to her. There was a time not too long ago that Sekai was so depressed that she was thinking of killing herself."

My eyes popped wide open when I heard that.

"That's why I often hang out with her and go to the places she likes to go to, I help her out so that way she won't fall back into depression again," she sighed unhappily and looked down to the ground, "but now I'm worried about her."

"Why's that?"

"I'm going to moving to France soon and I'm really concerned about her. I won't be able to relax until I know someone will be there for her whenever she needs someone."

"Wow, I didn't know that about her. When I see her, I usually see a cheerful smile on her face and she's often cracking jokes."

"Then be lucky you haven't seen that side of her," she sighed unhappily again before looking over to me, "from what I have heard and seen, she is often quite happy when around you. You even cheered her up on that evening after that nightmare she had."

"Wait, how did you know about Sekai's nightmare?"

"You mean _the_ nightmare you all had," she corrected me, "Sekai told me that. Anyways, what I want to ask you is, will you keep an eye on Sekai and make sure she doesn't fall into depression?"

"Of course I will. After all, Sekai always has a good laugh at me no matter what."

"Thank you, that puts my mind at ease. Oh and just to let you know, I'm a student conceil presidant. I'll see you later Nakata," and with that, she walked away from me and headed off back to the hot springs area.

I continued my little tour around the hot springs resort until I had seen everything I needed to see, then after my tour, I headed off back to the hot springs to relax. On my way, I saw someone waiting outside my room, it was Sekai Saionji, who was still looking angry.

"Alright Sekai, if you're in the mood to listen, I can explain about what happened before."

"I can't wait to hear this."

"I was trying to get Taisuke away from the doorway because he was _spying_ on you, even though he says he was only waiting for Hikari. Anyways, I had almost gotten him to walk away from there when you came along and smacked the crap out of us."

"Actually, I was trying to punch both your lights out," she snickered.

"Right," I muttered and walked into the room, only to discover it was empty, "alright, where are Makoto and Taisuke?"

"That Taisuke, I have no freaking clue of where he went. As for Makoto, he's gone back to the hot springs, thinking you were there."

"Well I'm not, yet."

"So where were you?"

"Me? Well, I was just walking around the place, checking it out...and I mean the actual resort and nothing else," I said firmly, "and I also had a talk with Setsuna..."

"Yeah I know, she told me that you wanted to talk to her."

"Well considering I don't know that much about her, I have every right to ask, don't I?"

"Yeah, of course you do...as long as you weren't saying anything behind my back or saying how you saw me..."

"Hey I told you before Sekai, I saw nothing then and I saw nothing now! Gosh how many times am I going have to say it?" I got no answer from Sekai this time.

I turned back to look and saw her staring at me, "when did you get those scars?" she asked.

"Scars?" I looked to my left shoulder and noticed that the sleve wasn't covering it anymore and worse still, Sekai could now see a scar on my back, "oh that one."

"Did you get that one from your fight with Sora?"

"No, that one isn't from Sora...none of these are," I lowered my housecoat, revealing my entire backside and several scars on my back, "you remember how I told you how bad my mother is when drunk?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is how far she can go. Each one of these scars were made by a long extension cord that in her hands turns into a dangerous whip."

"Oh my gosh," Sekai gasped, "did you ever report her to the police?"

"Yeah, but they didn't care one bit, they just said and I quote 'don't make false lies about your mother, otherwise it'll be your ass in the slammer'. They don't believe that my mother could do that, so I don't bother reporting her."

"Well I think it's just wrong."

"Join the club, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, she only gets to be like that when she's had _way_ too much to drink. Gosh I hope Scott isn't getting whipped while I'm not there," I muttered quietly as I lifted my housecoat back up and covering up my backside. "Sekai, I want you to promise me for real that you won't tell anyone."

"Don't worry Ryan I won't tell anyone. Gosh, why do you assume that I would tell off your secrets like when you saw me..."

"You didn't," I said angerily.

"Hey Ryan, why are you getting so upset all the sudden?"

"You know why Sekai," I started walking over towards her with an angry stare. She backed up nervously until she had her back to the wall and I was standing in front of her. I had my left hand on her right shoulder with a firm grip on it, but I didn't notice it yet, "I don't want you going around saying that I am a prevert when I am not, now...did you tell anyone?"

"No, I never did and I never will. I won't tell, now please let go, you're hurting me."

"Huh?" Finally I noticed what I was doing. "Oh, I'm sorry Sekai," I let go of her shoulder, "I didn't mean to do that, I was just...I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you badly did I?"

"No, you didn't, my shoulder is fine."

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what got over me, I don't usually do that to people."

"It's alright, I guess I went a little too far, but you can relax Ryan, I won't tell anyone. I know you are no prevert, you're a kind person who treats girls properly."

"Well that's because I believe that girls are living beings, not sex objects."

"And now you're teaching Makoto that kind of stuff, which is good. So again, I won't tell anyone about those incidents or this one."

"Okay thanks and I promise I won't do that again."

"Alright then. Now you'll excuse me, I'm going back to the hot springs..." she added with a chuckle before walking out, "Don't follow me or else..." then she walked away.

"Oh that girl, she sure isn't like any of the other girls I've met in the past," I thought to myself, "she really is a one of a kind." After a moment or so, I walked out of the room and back over to where the hot springs were.

Makoto was relaxing in the hot springs while Taisuke sat close by on a rock, rubbing the left side of his face, "did you get slapped again?" I asked.

"No, punched by Saionji," he groaned.

"God I love that girl," I smiled, but paused as both Makoto and Taisuke looked at me, "oh come on you know what I meant."

"Yeah we know," said Makoto. "Oh hey Ryan, I got some interesting news for you, I have another date with Kotonoha this week. While you were walking around and Taisuke was...well you know, she came by and asked me if I would like to go out with her this Wednesday evening, she said she had nothing to do that night and her father said that he's fine with her going out with me."

"Well that's good Makoto, just remember what I taught you."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to forget. I mean, it's not like I'm going to go over and rub her breasts."

"Now that would be sweet," said Taisuke, he looked like he was thinking. I shook my head, sighed unhappily and walked over towards him. Once I was standing in front of him, I slapped him on the left side of the face, "Ow! Stop that you dumb sumbitch, my cheek is a little tender right now."

"Do us all a favour and get that stupid thought out of your head."

I turned and walked over to another area of the hot springs, then I took off my housecoat and stepped into the hot springs, all the while making sure nobody saw the scars on my back.

"Hey Ryan, just out of curiousity, did you ever had a girlfriend?" Makoto asked.

"No I never had one, but after seeing how my brother Scott treated his girlfriend with respect, I knew that that's the way to treat a girl. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just being curious."

"Oh okay, but you know, it's actually thanks to Scott I know so much, although now the student is better than the teacher..." I then turned my attention back to Taisuke, "and just to let you know, Makoto can hang out with whoever he wants, it's his choice, not yours."

"What?" he asked surprised.

"I heard what you said to Makoto," I said before closing my eyes as I relaxed in the hot springs. "Yeah, this is definetly peaceful," I sighed happily.

"You said it best Ryan and I think the girls might agree with us."

"Why don't I go find out?" suggested Taisuke.

"No, you're not going anywhere near them, I'm not going to have my ass get kicked because of you," I said firmly to him, "now do me a favour and stay put. Otherwise, I'm the one who's going to kick your sorry ass for ruining this peaceful moment again."

I don't think Taisuke wanted to have his ass kicked again, cause throughout the rest of our stay, he stayed in the hot springs until we were finally ready to head back to our room to get changed and head off for home.

"Well that was great," Sekai said as we were leaving, "I definetly have to come back here, maybe after a stressful day of being around you bakas," she eyed us with firm looks.

Setsuna looked over to me with a firm look too, but it was for a different reason.

"Don't worry about Sekai," I whispered to her, "I'll always be there for her."

"Thank you," she whispered back.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Sekai asked, "are you confessing your love Ryan?"

"No, we're just talking that's all, but it's none of your business." Sekai spun around and stuck her tounge out at me before turning around again and continued walking on ahead without us, "see what I meant earlier?"

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded.

At around eleven that evening, I was about the only person in the entire apartment that wasn't asleep. I was thinking about my conversation with Setsuna, "yeah I learn something new everyday," I thought to myself, "and here I thought that Sekai was the kind of person who's always looking on the bright side of things and now I know that Sekai has a little dark side to her."

My thoughts were soon interupted as I heard my cellphone ring, "You have to be kidding me, how'd be calling this late at night?"

I quickly grabbed my cellphone and answered it before it could wake anyone up, "Ryan Nakata here, who is this?"

"It's me Ryan."

"Itaru?" I asked in surprise, but keeping my voice down, "why are you calling me this late in the evening? Everybody's asleep for crying out loud, in fact so should you."

"I would, except I'm not in my room..." she paused as I heard a train passing her.

"Are you at the train station?"

"Yeah, in your town. Ryan, can you come over here please? I don't feel safe around here on my own."

"But why...never mind, I'll be there Itaru, stay put and don't talk to anyone until I get there." I hung up the phone and got up from the couch. I wrote a quick note for Makoto and his mother, then after getting my jacket and shoes on, I walked out of the apartment and over to the train station.

There was hardly anybody at the train station and most of the lights were out, which gave the place a creepy look, "I like it better in the daytime," I thought to myself. "Itaru? Where are you? It's Ryan Nakata!"

"I'm over here Ryan," I heard a little voice call. I looked to the direction of the voice and found Itaru standing near the wall without a light shining on her, "Thank you for coming."

"No problem, but I have to know, why are you here? I thought you went home."

"I did, but I didn't want to stay there, so I ran away."


	11. The Little Runaway

_**Different School Days**_

_**Written by: ThomasZoey3000**_

_**Episode 11: The Little Runaway**_

"You ran away from home?" I asked, almost sounding quite shocked at what I had just heard, "why did you do that Itaru?"

"I wasn't happy living with my dad," she answered as another train came into the station, "he's always being rude and I don't like some of the things he does, so I decided to leave and come here to be with Mommy and Makoto. At least they love me."

"Well it's true they do, but you could've at least have a little talk with your father about this..." a thought came into my head and I just had to ask, "you did leave a note for him saying you were leaving right?"

"No," she answered simply.

"Oh for crying out loud," I groaned and slapped my forehead hard, "and that Itaru is your second mistake of the night. Your dad is going to freak out when he notices that you're gone and then he's probably going to get your mom all worked up..."

As if on cue, my cellphone ringing, "that'll be your mom and your brother I can guess." I pulled my cellphone out of it's pocket protector and answered it, but keeping it away from my eyes, "hello?"

"Ryan! Do you know where my daughter is? My Ex-husband just phoned me to tell me that she's gone!" shouted Mrs. Ito.

"See?" I whispered to Itaru. I then spoke to Mrs. Ito, "yes I do know where your daughter, she's right here at the train station."

"Oh that's a relief, but why are you at the train station?"

"She phoned me," I answered, "Mrs. Ito, Itaru and I will be there real soon, we're leaving right now."

"Okay, see you two in a bit," she said and hung up.

"Well I told you that your mom was going to freak when she found out and no doubt your dad is doing the same thing. Now come on, let's get going, it's not safe for us to be out here at this time of night."

Itaru followed real close to me with her little suitcase on wheels following close behind, "you said earlier that not leaving a note was my second mistake of the night. What was the first?"

"You already know the answer to that question kiddo," I said.

After that, we remained quiet throughout the rest of the walk back to Makoto's apartment. Of course, Mrs. Ito was still freaking out and Makoto was doing all he could to calm her down.

"Didn't you guys read the note that I left behind?" I asked.

"No we didn't," Makoto answered, "I didn't even know you left a note for us."

"Well I did. I said I was going to the train station to pick up someone...and I did just that," I stepped aside and there standing behind me was Itaru. She didn't look ashamed at all, she looked pretty happy.

"I'm home," she cheerfully.

I backed off cause I know her mom was going to run up to her. "Itaru!" Mrs. Ito shouted and ran up to her and picked her up. See what I was talking about? "Oh you are in so much trouble right now young lady, but I'm so glad to see you."

"Itaru? Why are you here?" Makoto asked, "You went home less than a couple of days ago."

"I wasn't happy with daddy, I want to be here with you," she said unhappily.

"But now your father is worried sick about you," said Mrs. Ito.

"No he's not, he's happy that I'm gone."

"Now that's not true," I said, "all fathers care for their children."

"Your dad doesn't."

"Yes he does. He's just...uh, a little busy right now, that's all."

"I will phone your father and let him know you're here," said Mrs. Ito, still sounding a little shook up, "you nearly gave me a heart attack Itaru." She went over to the kitchen and made the phone call - she came back real soon, "he's glad to know you're safe, but he is really mad at you. He'll be coming by tomorrow afternoon to pick you up."

"No!" Itaru cried, "I don't want to go back with him! I want to stay here!"

"Sorry honey, but that was the arrangement we made when your daddy and I split up." Itaru looked like she was going to cry, "now come on, it's very late, you should get some sleep. We'll continue our discussion in the morning."

"Yes mommy," she groaned and followed her mother to her bedroom.

"Lucky for her that she knew your cell phone number, otherwise she would still be stuck at that station," said Makoto.

"Yeah no kidding," I said and fell back onto the couch. I then had to ask, "Makoto, I hope you don't mind if I ask this question, but why did your parents split up in the first place?"

"It had a lot to do with my dad's attitude towards my mom. He was very rude to her, always lying and going out when he shouldn't have. In the end, my mom just couldn't take it anymore and she divorced him, saying that she was going to keep both of us."

"I'm assuming your dad won that battle."

"Yes he did, he wanted to have at least one child living with him so he wouldn't be lonely," continued Makoto, "he had originally chosen me, but I fought back in saying I had to stay here because of school and everything else and so he took Itaru with him when he left. Ever since, Itaru has tried on multiple occassions to come back here..."

"You mean threw her visits right?"

"Not excatly," Makoto muttered.

"Wait, are you telling me that your little sister has done this before."

"Ever since she went to live with him, but she always gets caught and sent back to my father's."

"Oh geez, if she's trying that hard than there really must be something wrong with your father."

"You can say that again," he said unhappily.

Mrs. Ito came back into the room, "I'm sorry for waking you up Makoto, I didn't mean to disturb you and Ryan, thanks for picking up my daughter."

"No problem Mrs. Ito, I always like to help."

"And I'm grateful for that. Now let's get some sleep, you guys got school tomorrow morning after all."

"I might be too tried to go to school," groaned Makoto before letting out a big yawn.

Mrs. Ito and Makoto both said their good nights to me, then they went back to their rooms. It took me a little more time to get back to sleep, but finally I grew tired and went out like a light.

The next day, (Monday September 26th 2011), Makoto and I were on the train and on our way to school. We were still tired from last night's little meet up and as a result, we were falling asleep on the train.

"Wake up sleepy heads," shouted a voice and the next thing I knew, I was slapped on the left side of my face.

"Hey!" I cried. I looked up and there was Sekai standing right in front of me, "you know a simple little nudge could easily wake me up Sekai, you didn't need to slap me."

"Oh but I had to," she said in a teasing way.

"Why are you two so sleepy?" asked Kotonoha, who just come on the train.

"We were up late last night," Makoto answered with a yawn, "my baby sister ran away from home and came back here."

"Makoto, your jokes are getting terrible," said Sekai.

"He's not joking Sekai," I said, "he's telling you the entire truth. Itaru ran away from her father's last night and I assume rode the train all by herself and then called me to come pick her up."

"Was she okay?" Kotonoha asked.

"Oh yeah she's fine."

"She's just a little kid though, doesn't she know any better than to run away from home?"

"I'm guessing...no," I said, "just like you Sekai."

"Hey," she snapped and slapped me again, "I'm the one who makes jokes around here Ryan." I just chuckled and stuck my tounge out at her.

"So where is your sister now Makoto?" Kotonoha asked.

"She's at home with Mom," he answered, "she's going to be staying there all day until my dad comes by to pick her up this afternoon. Oh boy is he ever going to be pissed."

"It would serve her right," said Sekai, "she should be grateful that she even has a dad. I don't even know who my dad is and as for Ryan, his father is in jail."

"Geez Sekai, why don't you blurt it out to the whole world?!" I snapped angerily.

"Oh sorry Ryan, I guess I went too far again."

I sighed and shook my head, "it's fine Sekai, just try to remember it's a touchy subject and I don't like to bring it up."

"Okay I'll try," she said as our train arrived at the station. All the students got off and started walking off to the school.

Later on that day at around lunchtime, Kotonoha and I were just getting out of our seats when two of Otome's little fan club members came up to my desk and for the first time without her standing beside them.

"Hello ladies, is there something I can do for you today?" I asked, "like telling you to buzz off?"

"I feel really sorry for you Ryan Nakata," one of them snickered, "for you are the only guy I know who's got a father that's in jail."

"Did you hear that everybody?" the other one called out, "Nakata's father is in jail!" They were probably in the same car that the four of us had been riding in this morning and overheard everything, "are you going to cry now Nakata?"

"Do you want to go and hug your daddy?" and the two of them burst into laughter.

"The only place I'm going is to the rooftop for lunch," I said firmly, "and I rather not see you two bakas and your little friend Otome, wherever she might be, following me."

"Whatever you say little baby," and they continued laughing.

"Bakas," I muttered.

The other member of Otome's fan club was waiting outside the classroom and unlike the other two, she didn't have a smirk on her face, "I apologize for them, that's something we should not be laughing about," she said and walked away.

"Okay that was a little weird," I said out loud.

"That was Kumi," said Kotonoha, "she does bully me, but I've found that she's more polite than Minami, Natsumi and Otome."

"Yeah I can see that," I said as I watched the girl walk off into the distance. "Maybe there's hope for that girl yet," then I asked, "where is Otome anyways?"

"She's out sick today."

"Well I guess that explains the little break you're getting from her and her little fan-club."

"Yeah I guess it does," she smiled.

We walked up the stairwell and up to the rooftop where we found Sekai and Makoto waiting for us. Makoto was on his cellphone, "No Itaru. I can't just tell dad not to take you back again," he was saying, "well I know you don't like living there, but just think of how he's feeling right now...well of course he has feelings."

"What's going on?"

"It's Itaru, she's trying to get Makoto to speak with her father later and tell him she shouldn't go back with him, but it's not working out that well."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that, you don't have a choice in the matter, you have to go back...uh, Itaru? Are you there sis?" there was no answer, "I think she's a little mad at me."

"What was your first clue?" Sekai asked rudely.

"Sekai!" I said firmly. She just laughed and stuck out her tounge at me.

"You can't really blame the girl, she never really liked living with dad and neither did I," said Makoto, "she wants to be happy and away from him, just like Ryan."

"What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, "why did you mention me?"

"I didn't, it was Itaru. She saw how happy you were to get away from your family and now she wants to be like you."

"Dammit," I groaned and slapped my forehead.

"You're not a very good example Ryan," Sekai smirked.

I sighed unhappily, "for once Sekai, you're right. I'm not a good example to Itaru. I think when I get back to Makoto's, I'll have a little talk with her."

"Assuming my dad isn't early this time," added Makoto.

Luck seemed to be on my side as Mr. Ito had not arrived just yet. Makoto was doing some research for a report, so it was just me who came back to the apartment. As I walked up to the place, I saw a familar little girl walking away.

I quietly snuck up behind her and lifted her off her feet, "hey!" she cried, "put me down!"

"And now you're going to run away from your mom and your brother?" I asked firmly, "close, but no cigar Itaru." I then carried her back to the apartment and back to her room.

"You didn't need to do that, I wasn't going to run away!"

"Oh really? Then why do you have your suitcase with you?"

"I was just going to hide, then my daddy would have no choice but to go home alone."

"Clever plan, but it doesn't always work, he'll soon find out where you're hiding and then you're really in deep trouble Itaru," I said. I sighed and got down on my knees so that I could be face to face with her, "running away and hiding is not going to help you."

"It helped you."

"Ah technically I did not run away, your brother had invited me to stay here for a while," I said to her. "But if he hadn't, I would still be living with my mom and my brother."

"Well that's true I guess."

"Think for a bit Itaru, what if I never met your brother and he never invited me to stay here with you guys and I had decided to run away from my family, what do you think I would do then huh?" There was a pause, Itaru was thinking it over.

"I don't know."

"Now you got it, I wouldn't have a place to stay at, I would be out on the streets all alone and let me tell you, it's rough out there with some not so nice guys walking around. So you see Itaru, it's better to be home safe and sound, than to be hurt and on your own."

"But I don't like living with my dad."

"Well then talk to him about it okay? Tell him how you feel and who knows, maybe he'll tone it down a bit and change some things to make your life there a happier experience."

"Do you really think it would work?"

"Yeah I'm sure it would work," I nodded.

"Okay well I guess I could try."

"Glad to hear it," I smiled, "and I'll be right behind you in case you need me."

At around five that afternoon, the four of us, that included Makoto, were in the living room and watching some television when we heard a knock at the door, "That must be your father," said Mrs. Ito as she got up from the couch.

"Remember, talk to him and let him know how you feel," I whispered to her.

"I will," she nodded.

Mrs. Ito opened the door and sure enough, there was Mr. Ito and oh boy, did he ever look angry, "is that the boy who saved my daughter?"

"He actually picked her up at the station, but yeah that is him," nodded Mrs. Ito, "his name is Ryan Nakata."

"Nakata huh? Hmm yes I've heard of you and your family before."

"Well I've heard of you too, mostly coming from the youngest member of your family..." I looked down to Itaru, who looked nervous. I nodded to her and whispered, "go on, you can do it."

She gathered up her courage and walked up to her father, "I'm sorry for running away."

"Why did you run away Itaru?" he asked.

"Cause it's no fun living with you," she said, "you're always swearing, you're mean to me alot and you..." she paused as he eyed her father firmly, "you drink too much and I don't like that."

"Sounds alot like what you were doing before," Mrs. Ito firmly.

"Well I'm sorry Itaru, but it's just who I am right now. I've always been a drinker, a curser and at times can be a very mean person."

"Can you at least try to be nice for me?" she asked kindly, "otherwise I'm not leaving!"

"And she means it," Makoto added. I looked at him surprised, that's just what I was going to say, but I didn't say a single word.

"Well I guess I could try to be a little nicer," he said, "but you got to make me a promise right here and now Itaru. You've got to promise me that you won't be doing this again. You scared me half to death for crying out loud."

"I really wish he didn't say that," I groaned quietly.

"Okay I promise, but I can still come for visits right?"

"Of course you can, but not for a while. You're going to be grounded for an entire day for running away like that."

"Okay," she said sweetly.

"Good, now get your stuff and let's get going."

Itaru ran back to her room and got her bag. Mr. Ito looked over at me, "I do know your family Mr. Nakata, especially your father. He was in the same school I went to when I was a teenager. He was always doing things for others and always trying to help them out, it's a quality of his that often got him into trouble..." he paused and looked at my bruises from my fight with Sora, "and judging by the looks of you, you're just like him in every single way."

"I suggest you take care of yourself though," he added as Itaru returned, "or you will get hurt like your father did."

"See you later," Itaru said sweetly, "and thank you for everything..." she then ran up to me and gave me a big hug, "especially you Ryan."

"Well it's the least I could do for a friend," I smiled.

Itaru smiled back and then ran to join her father.

Sometime after nine thirty that evening, Makoto and his mother had gone off to bed, but I was still awake. I was thinking about what Mr. Ito said, "helping others isn't bad," I thought to myself, "But then again knowing my dad, he'd probably go beyond the limits of being a friend and probably do more harm than good."

Once again, my cellphone started ringing, "hello, Ryan Nakata speaking."

"Oh sorry, I must have a wrong number."

"Ha-ha, very funny Sekai."

"Do you want to know what I'm wearing Ryan? I know you do."

"Shut up baka, I'm not interested in that! Why did you call?"

"Well if you want the real answer, I just wanted to know if you had a chance to speak with Itaru tonight."

"Yeah I had my talk with her and I don't think she'll want to run away from her father anytime soon," I then told Sekai everything that I had told Itaru. "So now she knows that if she has got a problem with anything her father does, she can just talk to him."

"Very good," said Sekai in a cheerful tone, "but you know, if you did run away from your family, I would've invited you to move in with me."

"You would've."

"Yeah of course I would, I might joke around alot, but even I wouldn't turn my back on someone...even if it is you," she added with a chuckle.

"Very funny Sekai, you're a real jokester. All you really need now is make-up, clurry hair and a red nose and you'd be perfect for the circus."

"No I wouldn't, you would fit in perfectly."

"Oh real funny," I said sarcastically.

_"Sekai, are in bed yet?"_ came the sound of her mother's voice.

"I will be in a minute!" she called back.

"Oh you're busted and I mean busted with a captail 'B'," I chuckled. Sekai snapped at me, which made me laugh. "Well anyways, I'm not going to keep you up too long, I'll let you go to sleep."

"Thanks and Ryan..."

"Yeah?"

"Just so you know, I meant what I said before about if you needed a place to stay," she said it with a serious tone in her voice. "Well I'll see you at school tomorrow, you better be awake by that time or I'll use a blowhorn to wake you up."

"That wouldn't work, your voice is the only thing that gets me up."

"Oh dumb baka!"

"Yeah and good night to you Sekai," I chuckled and hung up. "Oh that girl, she never quits," and on that note, I turned off the Television and went off to sleep.


End file.
